ATHENS: Greece’s government eyes possible €500m iGambling Tax Revenues. To satisfy EU demands Greece is trying to devise an economic reform.
One suggestion proposed by Greek finance minister Varoufakis involves Greece employing tourists as undercover tax inspectors, but his proposal was greeted with disbelief by euro zone officials. However, Varoufakis’ latest suggestion has been received with a similar amount of incredulity, especially as his projection of €500 million in annual online gambling taxes would seem to have no basis in the real world.
In 2011, for instance, Greece produced just €250 million in online gaming revenues, and while at that time there were around 60 unregulated operators in the country generating roughly €2 billion in annual iGaming turnover, even that figure would leave Greece well short of Varoufakis’ wildly optimistic projection. Elaborating further on the issue, Greece daily morning newspaper ekathimerini explained:
“After deducting the 80 to 90 percent payout to punters, €160 to €240 million in gross revenues is left to be taxed by the Greek authorities. Therefore, the actual amount the Greek state can expect from taxing the gross revenues of the until recently illegal online gambling companies will be some eight to 10 times smaller than the €500 million the Greece finance minister promised to collect in the letter to his euro zone peers last week.”
Interestingly, the whole of Greece has a population of just 11 million people, which is only slightly larger than New Jersey with 9 million residents, leading EU officials thinking that, how so small and impoverished a nation is expected to generate so much money playing casino and online poker games.
