Ladbrokes casino complains about UK tax

One of the largest Irish casino providers is in the casino news this week complaining about the effect that new UK taxes and the crackdown on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) have had on the performance of their business. The online casino operator Ladbrokes casino has been hit the new point of consumption tax which was introduced in the UK and which effectively says that any profits made from online casinos and other forms of online gambling shall be taxed at 15% where the customer is UK based and any online casino is obliged to provide this information or they cannot get a UK license to operate. The fact that the online casino is based overseas in a low tax environment as all online casinos are (including Paddy Power Casino by the way) is irrelevant to this tax. This is something that the Irish government has been considering for years but has so far not done anything about. This measure clearly increases the tax burden on the online casino operator which reduces profits unless something else is done about it. Even if Ireland does something similar it will not affect Irish casino players directly as it is the operator that is paying although there must be the possibility that win percentages on casino games such as casino slots might be adjusted. The question of FOBTs being restricted to a maximum of four machines per shop is also not a concern of Irish casino players as those machines are illegal in Ireland anyway except of course if as stated above the online casino operators decide to adjust win percentages which will affect all users of online casinos. This is just another argument for the online casino operators such as Ladbrokes and Paddy Power to join forces with Coral and BetFair respectively to try and find synergies to reduce costs.