In this week’s budget, UK chancellor George Osborne announced the government’s intention to “change the treatment of freeplays for remote gaming providers,” meaning that free online gaming will be subject to remote gaming duty from August, 2017.
Source: Crown Copyright
Writes the Olswang Tax Blog: “Whilst it’s not yet clear, one assumes that this will result in both free spins and bonus credits becoming subject to remote gaming duty.
“This is clearly a big blow for UK-facing remote gaming operators as bonus credits and free spins are very widely used by operators and are critical to player acquisition and retention.”
The good news for operators is that they have 17 months to determine the most tax efficient means of incentivising players.
“The duty efficiency of different incentives will, however, turn on how the new rules are drafted,” adds Olswang
PwC called the moved “a considerable tax hike,” adding that the expanded levying of remote gaming duty would add as much as £100m to government coffers.
