Remote Gaming Duty will be set at 15%
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown disappointed the online gambling industry last week with his budget speech and his announcement that the Remote Gaming Duty will be set at 15%, in line with that for bookmakers and bingo halls. There had been speculation that Brown would set the Remote Gaming Duty as low as 2 or 3% to encourage online gambling companies to relocate to Britain. A 15% rate will do little to encourage online gambling companies to move from their tax havens such as Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus. 
When combined with an additional VAT and corporation taxes, a UK-based online gambling company would find it almost impossible to compete with those based in a tax haven offshore. Remote Gambling Association chairman John Coates said “this decision means the UK has effectively turned its back on the industry”. Online casino games weren’t the only ones to suffer under Gordon’s new budget, with land-based casinos facing new tax rates as high as 50%. The disappointing news served to undo much of the good work Britain had accomplished in recent years in its attempts to regulate the online gambling industry. Damian Aspinall (owner of Aspinalls casino) was less than impressed with the high tax rate, saying: “It’s insane. They spend years deregulating the industry and then overtax it.”