In its 2020 budget, the Latvian Parliament approved a new law that would raise taxes on some land-based gaming activities in the region.
According to the proposal, casino facilities selling games such as slot machines, card games and dice games and roulette will be automatically affected by the new legislation. The new tax increase was originally proposed in October and is now coming into effect on the first day of the year according to a report which was published by reliable igaming source Calvinayre.com.
The state budget would earn the highest donations from the gambling industry of the country as part of the new legislation. Local municipalities operating such gaming centers, though, will also earn a share of tax revenue. Furthermore, in contrast with what they got before the new law, the money they would earn under the new bill will be limited.
The annual tax on betting tables will rise from € 23,400 ($25,878) per table to € 28,080 ($31,211). The tax on slot machines will climb from € 4,164 ($4,604) to € 5,172 ($5,719).
The new amendment was meant to transfer the tax burden from the labor force to those casino activities, according to Latvia’s finance minister. Therefore, the amount of tax income that the government collects should be greatly increased, maybe by as much as 75%. According to the new legislation, the Latvian government would obtain 90% of the total revenue, while only 10% will go to local municipalities.
This is not the only reporting about betting these days coming from Latvia. The nation alerted people about bogus lotteries and illegal online gambling sites at the beginning of last week that were preying on their men. Latvia’s gaming regulator issued a warning that shared its worry.
As part of the alert, the regulator provided people with a set of keys to pay attention to that could mean that they are dealing with a potential scam, particularly related to lotteries. These included items like earning a lottery ticket when a person has not signed up to play, being told that they have to pay taxes in order to obtain the award, and receiving emails from an account that uses either Gmail or Hotmail as a service provider.
In a statement, the IAUI explained, “In a state-controlled lottery, the winner will never have to pay the prize taxes or money transfer commission before receiving the prize. Don’t send your personal data, bank account details, and money to unknown people.” Any person who receives an email that they have won the lottery is advised to contact the IAUI to verify its authenticity.
