Malta and gambling taxes was complicated when I looked into it. One of those "you'll probably get away with it but if tax authorities weren't so lazy you could end up having to pay tax on your winnings" situations. But if not tax free it will at least be low taxes.
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The United Kingdom is the best without question, got a Bookie on every street corner. It's pretty much a candy shop for any Sports Bettor.Comment -
Malta is a favourite "holiday destination" in Europe. If I rent an apartment there, for long term (or even to buy
"something smaller" - I saw the prices there are not higher as anywhere else in western Europe), and as being a
citizen of any other EU country, there should be no problem I suppose. Until I do not tell them (why would I do so ?)
that I am "a professional gambler" (though such " occupation" officially really does not exist). Who will care what am
I doing while being on a holiday ? Any comments are appreciated, please. Thank you.Comment -
I continue to do well in Siberia.
Being a sex slave for only hot girls gets demanding, but it works for me.Comment -
Here is something about taxes in Europe (dont know how accurate it is)
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It seems that UK & Ireland got similar approach towards gambling and it's not considered as a trade due to it's not required to be included in an annual income tax form.
Furthermore the same interpretation of law was applied in Malta a while ago (1957). Case No. 34/56.
However I'm not sure how it looks now, maybe someone else could provide some more info about the current status there.Comment -
Interesting article. But I question that it is as easy as the author assumes by simply saying 'yes' or 'no' on whether you have to pay taxes as a professional gambler in a country or not. He said 'no' regarding Germany. But in fact it is a grey area here. I mean yes, it's right that there has not been a precedent yet where a player would have been sentenced to pay taxes but what I know from a tax lawyer is that there have been lawsuits in some federal states in recent times and that it could be just a matter of time when a player will be sentenced (a famous German poker player has already been). Probably the situation here is not much different from the situation in other countries. So I would be very skeptical if someone tells me 'no, you don't have to pay taxes in this country, even if you're a professional' because I highly doubt there is a law that clearly says 'professional gambling is tax-free'. Is there even one country in the world that defines the job of a professional gambler in a legal way? I don't think so. It's probably a grey area in most of the countries. It's only tax-free until a court says the opposite.Comment -
But in germany you pay taxes on your stake, 5%. Isnt that all?Comment -
Yeah certainly mate, I still find it to be the best country for Sports Betting though, regardless. Its kind of cool, as your walking down the road you can just pop into the betting shop and take a load off and watch some games on the big screen. Yeah im sure you could pull that stunt off mate but you couldn't get to carried away with it, would need to tread lightly.
I still prefer to bet online more though, given that Bet365 doesn't have their own shops for some reason.
I'm good mate, hope you're doing okay, been awhile.
Last edited by packerd_00; 02-18-19, 03:28 PM.Comment -
But you need to know,its not same kind of people inside US sportsbook and inside Europeans. Bums crawl all over those places. It better just to bet online... its not pub like feeling when watch games,more like homeles shelter with big screens.Comment -
It's great for the recreational gambler but the regulator in UK has always held the opinion that it is just fine for their books to profile profitable customers to exploit whilst limiting/booting unprofitable ones.
And I mean in insidious ways, right down to using AI to identify what week of the month, or day of the week, people are paid and slamming them with promos that day. It's an ugly ugly industry in the UK imho.
IMHO it is close to the worst of the big legal jurisdictions, as far as the regulator caring at all about Fair Bookmaking Practices.
Plus they have legally pushed books there into asking for payslips, bank statements, proof of money source and all sorts of riciculously private things for bookmaker to deal with.
And this has started infecting other books thinking outside the UK.
Honestly, UK would be below USA for me as far as a destination for a pro gambler.
USA, like Australia has, will hopefully tell these UK urger corporate books to pull their damn heads in and play more fairly in the USA..Comment -
I don't agree with "grey area" view when it comes to taxes. The law must be clear. Who is paying, what is paying for, how much is paying etc.... You can't be charged from a tax agency, just because something is not defined yet or just because some laws are missing. So if there is no explicit law that tells how much (%) must a pro-gambler pay, and how exactly is the tax calculated, what is the base and who is the payer. If this kind of regulation doesn't exist, then I agree with those who say that there is no tax.
When it comes to regulatory questions there is no space for grey, or it is black or it is white. You must pay some tax, because there is a specific law/article that makes it obligatory for you to pay, or the law doesn't exist and so you don't need to pay a tax.Comment -
Can we make consensus what money is involved when you say pro gambler. If you gonna bet 100k match best is Asia then. Europe is good but i doubt you can put 20k on some bet at local shop.Comment -
Thanks for the answers. From what I've seen the country that's closer to what I'm looking is Austria. I can bet on pinnacle there without problems and the winnings are not taxed.
Another interesting country would be Malta but the information I've read is a bit confusing. Does anyone have more information on gambling in Malta?Comment -
I wish it would be that simple in reality. A law for every and anything and you would just have to search for the relevant paragraph to know about your rights and duties. Unfortunately reality is not like that. Laws are abstractly written and very often there are at least two opinions about a thing, otherwise we would not have that many lawsuits. And when it comes to sports betting this is pretty much the definition of a legal grey area for me. In Germany there are two different laws that can simultaneously be applied to professional sports betting but are mutually contradictory. The first one is that earnings from sports betting do not belong to the seven categories of income, thus they have to be tax-free. The second one is that every economic activity that is carried out on own account, own responsibility and permanently with the intention to make a (long-term) profit is taxable. If your main income comes from sports betting, especially for a longer period of time, then it can be considered as a profession. It does not even matter which activity it is and I don't know how it is elsewhere but at this place it does not even matter if the activity is legal or not! That means a drug or weapons dealer has to pay income taxes and make a tax declaration as well
Otherwise it's tax fraud.
To break it down: Two of three main criterions would apply to say sports betting is taxable
1. Legal or Illegal? Does not matter for taxation
2. Main income? Check. Own account? Check. Own responsibility? Check. Permanent activity? Check. Intention to make long-term profit? Check.
3. One of the seven categories of income? No.
A practical example: https://www.casinoonline.de/nachrich...y-scharf-3982/
Eddy Scharf, a German poker professional, had an advance ruling of the finance authority that playing poker professionally is not taxable because it's gambling. 9 years later the Federal Finance Court declared this decision invalid and sentenced him to pay retroactively a 6 figure tax amount. It was a total shock, not only for him but also for all the law experts and the whole industry itself. It was the first time a poker player had been sentenced to pay taxes ALTHOUGH the laws were not clear and even the responsible finance authority said something else.
If not professional gambling what else is a grey area in terms of being taxable or not. At least at this place it definitely is.Comment -
@lonnie55
Still not a grey area but I would call it over-regulation. You have 2 contradictory laws covering same area. That's a problem of your legislator. The court has an ungrateful task to determinate what will prevail, to create a precedence. Next your government should make amendments to the law, to solve the issue.
Regarding taxation of illegal activities. They can't be tasked. Illegal activities are a matter of a criminal code, not a matter of taxation.Comment -
How is this not a grey area? There is no clear law. Some authorities say this, others that. And in the end you do not even know if a court could overrule the authority.
On paper there is no professional sports bettor because the common perception is that sports betting is gambling. That is the main problem with that.
Yes, but it's the case here. And there already have been drug dealers who were sentenced to pay income tax: https://www.express.de/bonn/bonn-arc...ahlen-24441184Comment -
Grey area meaning missing regulation (like IE ICOs in Krypto in 2017). Over-regulation is another problem, like I said above. Court in a normal rule of law country always provides a legal protection. You must have that even in the constitution.How is this not a grey area? There is no clear law. Some authorities say this, others that. And in the end you do not even know if a court could overrule the authority.
Regarding the article, cant comment single case, I'm also not so good in German but generally speaking illegal activity can't be taxed. However if you cant explain how you have earned your income, you'll probably have to pay the high % of tax. But I don't know enough German legislation, so could be that u have some weird cases in the court.Comment -
It's definitely taxable in Australia.
Although the interesting thing about the rules is you only have to declare it if your criminal activity is regular and meets the broad definition of business activity.
As in the case of an illegal bookmaker.
But if you just rob a bank once, and don't primarily derive income from bank robbery in general, it's not necessarily taxable!
(seriously)
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Not necessarily. For example, the question if online gambling is legal or illegal at my place is a total grey area ALTHOUGH there is a law that says online betting is prohibited. So why is it a grey area? Because enforcement authorities don't take any measures against people who participate in online gambling. They fear that banning gambling providers that are licensed in other EU countries could break EU law. There is only one case where a lower court confiscated the Black Jack winnings of a guy but a higher court quashed that verdict later saying that German law can not be applied for a book that is licensed in another country: https://www.casinoonline.de/nachrich...ler-frei-6101/ (google translate works fine BTW)Comment -
To me this is clear, not grey. Just because your authorities don't enforce the law, doesn't mean that it is a "grey area". The grey are IMO would be if there is no law or unclear regulation.there is a law that says online betting is prohibited
Otherwise you could claim also that dealing drugs is a grey area, cos maybe authorities in some places do not enforce the law. I cant remember when was someone arrested for drug dealing in my area in last 20 years. Doesnt mean here is no drugs, also doesnt mean it is a grey area.
And unlike Germany where you say that u have a law that makes gambling illegal, I haven't seen something similar for Malta. But OP should research more to be sure.Last edited by Limited; 02-19-19, 05:56 PM.Comment -
I don't know. Every lawyer and law expert says it's a grey area. You can go to police and say "I just made a bet at an online book" and they won't care. Out TV commercials are full of illegal betting commercials but no one cares (there is a law which says that promoting sportsbooks is illegal, too). Our football clubs are sponsored by illegal sportsbooks but no one cares. Even our football federation, DFB, is partnered with an illegal sportsbook but, guess what, no one cares. And there is another reason why no one cares: From 2021 online gambling will be fully regulated and legal. But at the moment there is a law which is not enforced so online betting is tolerated BUT theoratically you still could get sentenced for participation in illegal sports betting. It's just very unlikely.
So you want to tell me there is a place on earth where you can go to police and say "I'm a drug dealer and my pockets are full of shit" but no one cares? In which country is drug dealing tolerated?Comment -
All of my research suggests that Malta is best. It's a 1st world country, beautiful weather, and probably every online gambling site in the world is legal.
Note: I didn't look much into the 'tax' issue, so I can't answer.Last edited by AimHigher; 02-20-19, 07:40 AM.Comment -
the obvious choice.