Spanish Gambling Market Requests Back Taxes from UK Operators

In Spain, the government is finally getting around to issuing licenses for its online gambling market. The legislation allowing the regulation of the market was passed last year, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the government started issuing licenses to international operators. Now, after several licenses have been issued, the government has thrown a curveball – the requirement of four years’ worth of back taxes.

Last year, the idea of paying back taxes was thrown around – but the requirement only requested that companies pay a years’ worth of taxes for the time in which they operated while the laws were still being worked out. Now, it seems that the country’s regulators are getting a bit greedy.

For companies that have recently received licenses, the costs are steep. PokerStars could be looking at paying €20 million while Bwin.Party could pay €3 million. SportingBet is also required to pay back taxes, which could amount to €8 million. Bwin.Party and PokerStars are likely to pay these taxes, but SportingBet is still considering it.

While larger online casino operators are able to handle the request, smaller companies are unlikely to be able to comply. So, there is a bit of exclusivity involved in the newly regulated Spanish gambling market.