The Association of Remote Gambling Organisations (AOJND), the Romanian online gambling trade organisation, has announced its criticism of the recently proposed 40% levy on all gambling withdrawals. Their reason is that this tax is likely to push players towards more illegal operators.
The trade body has made a note of the negative effects that would come for all involved parties if a high percentage of players were moving to these illegal sites, not just players but also operators and the government. This could actually result in a decrease in revenue for both government and operators, they stated, rather than an increase.
The president of the AOJND, Odeta Nestor, said “Before adopting such a fiscal measure, a number of factors must be taken into account. First, online gambling is primarily an entertainment industry, not a source of revenue for players.”
“According to AOJND data, over 80% of those who withdraw money after participating in gambling, withdraw amounts of up to a maximum of ROL1,000 (£175/€202/$213), but most of them are in fact much smaller, in the order of just a few hundred lei. Basically, we are mostly talking about cases in which the player does not pursue the win at any cost but the pleasure of competing. In this way online gambling being rather a source of reducing daily stress.”
The trade body emphasised that the 90% channelling rate towards legal operators may be in danger and that if the tax does in fact come into effect that online gambling businesses may end up paying as much as 50% less in tax due to a significant reduction in activity.
