EL Legal Seminar: Gambling Regulation and Gambling Taxation, two sides of the same coin?

Despite the fact that the gambling sector is a highly regulated one, a number of mostly online operators successfully manage to avoid paying (corporate) taxes in the countries where they operate by providing business-to-business services on a cross border basis from a country with low tax rates. By doing so, they are in a position to offer more attractive services as they can lower their fees and thus potentially cause serious player protection issues. In addition, they deprive governments from a fair share of revenues that could be used to achieve public interest goals.

Taxation can be a powerful tool to create a level playing field for all the gambling operators on the market, but in particular in the fight against illegal operators. Taxation might also be an instrument to regulate markets and contribute to compliance in responsible gambling programmes. Or even be a crowbar in enforcing CSR goals?