Excessive Online Gambling Tax in Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is supportive of the online gambling industry and they were one of the first European countries to work towards legalized online gambling for their citizens. Czechs are very fond of gambling, and legislation has already been passed that makes it legal to operate an online casino within the republic as long as the online casino meets government specifications.

The advantage is that anyone with an online gambling license can offer any type of online gambling from within the Czech Republic. The problem is that the government taxes online gambling at 30%. This incredibly high tax has kept many online gambling operators in tax havens where they tend to pay as little as 1.5% tax on profits to the government. A government tax of 30% is way too high for an online casino to remain competitive against foreign operators.

Online casino operators are better to stay in a country with low taxes and use some of their
added revenue to find unique ways to attract citizens of the Czech Republic to their casinos.
The Czech government is well aware of the problem that the excessive tax creates for gambling
operators and online gambling within it’s borders but they haven’t come up with any solutions.

It is extremely difficult to filter out the online gambling sites that exist offshore without
censoring the Internet, taking away certain freedoms, or breaking free trade agreements.