Córdoba eyes gambling taxes

The Ministry of Finance of Argentina’s Province of Córdoba has indicated the implementation of a 10.5 percent tax on all online wagers effective January 1, 2018.

The Ministry, which expects to rake in annual taxes for 2018 of around US$4.3 million, forecast to double in 2019, has indicated credit card companies will be required to withhold the tax from online casino and sports betting customers at the time of the transaction.

“We know that it is not an important amount, but we are going to set a precedent from this point onwards,” Osvaldo Giordano, Minister of Finance told local publication LaVos.

“As with many other digital activities, online gambling continues to grow which is why we decided to incorporate it [tax] from next year.”

Game activities that will fall under the regime include “all games developed and/or exploited through any means, platform or technological application and/or device and/or digital and/or mobile platform.”

Taxable games will include, but are not limited to, online roulette, blackjack, baccarat, punto y banca, poker, bingo, slots, sports betting, Craps and Keno.

According to LaVos, the Government will keenly focus on large, prominent operators naming Spin Palace, Jackpot City, Gaming Club, Casino Época, Lucky Nugget, BetWay Casino, Ruby Fortune, 888 Poker, Tigergaming.com, PartyPoker, William Hill, PokerStars, Bet365, Bwin, Codere, William Hill, Interwettem, Paf.es, 888Sport, Luckia, Betfair and Sportium.

The proposed tax regime will be debated as part of the Budget Law discussions to be held this week by Government.