Spain unlikely to pass lowered online gambling tax rate
Industry exec says complex Catalonia political situation is likely to result in the previous budget being extended for three years
The lowering of the Spanish tax rate for online gambling operators is unlikely to be passed through Spanish parliament, a senior executive for a Spanish operator has told EGR.
The 2018 parliamentary budget, including the clause to lower the gambling tax from 25% to 20%, was presented to the lower part of Spanish parliament last week.
However, according to one senior industry executive, the Partido Popular government is unlikely to get a majority vote on the bill.
At present, the Basque Nationalist Party is refusing to vote in favour of the budget until the suspension of the Catalonian government is lifted by the Spanish administration.
If the situation is not resolved within a certain time period, the 2017 budget will be extended for three years.
The source said: “It’s very unlikely this gets moved on simply because the political situations is not the right one.
“This is not the best timing for this – we are all very happy the regulator agrees the tax rate has to be reviewed, but unfortunately it isn’t likely to be passed at this point.”
The Spanish regulator, DGOJ, opened its latest licensing window in December 2017, with firms able to apply for both B2C and B2B licences.