The federation of European coin machine trade associations, Euromat, based in Brussels, last week deplored a decision by the European Court which dismissed an action for annulment of a Commission decision in relation to Denmark’s Gaming Duties Act.
Denmark plans to operate a system in which the holder of an operator’s licence for gaming machines in arcades, street operations and casinos should pay a tax of up to 75 per cent.
On the other hand, holders of operating licences for online casinos pay only 20 per cent of revenues. This had been challenged in a case between the Danish trade association, Dansk Automat Brancheforening, and the European Commission.
The court ruled that it had not been demonstrated that the fiscal aid measure in question, imposing a lower tax on online operators, was liable to have a substantial adverse effect on the position of one or more of DAB’s members. However, it did not endorse the Danish tax proposals.
Euromat believes that the ruling fails to address the discriminatory tax treatment which was at the heart of the original action and is “disappointed” that the ruling provides no additional legal clarity.
Annette Kok, president of Euromat, said: “The ruling fails to address whether discriminatory state aid, as proposed by the Danish law, is justified. We believe that favouring online companies with lower tax rates will simply distort the market place in Europe at the expense of our already highly regulated and highly taxed members and the 250,000 European citizens they employ.”
Under the Danish proposals, a 100,000 euro gross gaming revenue will result in a tax payment of €20,000 for online companies and a tax payment of €71,000 for land-based businesses.
