Tasmania Drops Online Gambling Taxation

October 13, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

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While many countries and states all over the world are increasing taxation for online casinos, or attempting to ban online gambling, there are others that are, in fact, making gambling easier and cheaper for gambling operators.

Tasmania, a state in the commonwealth of Australia, is separated from the main Australian landmass by the Bass Strait. Not only is the "island state" physically separated from the mainland, it is generally at least one step ahead of the rest of Australia when it comes to gambling issues.

This time, Tasmania has taken steps to drop the taxation on bookmaking operations. They have not simply removed any income from these operations, but rather, have chosen to charge a flat fee for those wishing to operate out of Tasmania. This has now put the spotlight on Tasmania, with many bookmaking operators, and other online gambling operators from all over the world, that are now considering moving their operations to Tasmania. The flat fee is not going to be available to all types of online gambling operations at this time, but it will certainly be the beginning of a concept that may be offered to other types of online gambling operations, and may also be offered by other gambling jurisdictions over time.

As explained, not all online gambling operations have been offered this flat fee at this time. It seems that Betfair, a sports betting exchange, are still being charged a tax of fifteen percent. They could, therefore, be at a potential disadvantage when compared to those bookmaking operations that will be paying a set fee.

All large online gambling operations that would be accepted to pay the flat fee, which is expected to be about $250,000, would be doing themselves a service to move their operations to Tasmania. The rest of Australia, especially in Sydney, is in an uproar over this move by Tasmania, since it is likely that Tasmania will lure away most of the larger online gambling operations that are currently operating from Sydney and other locations.

While Tasmania, like other online gambling jurisdictions, such as Antigua, could certainly use the additional jobs that would be created by online gambling operations operating from their borders, some gaming opponents are against the idea of Tasmania becoming a global gambling center.

The Liberal Party spokesman, Peter Gutwein told The Mercury "With the opportunities opening up with the national broadband network, we would encourage the government to make sure we're not just a competitive place for gambling businesses but a competitive place for all businesses."