Romania promulgates new turnover tax on gambling operators

The Romanian government has reduced the gambling turnover tax to 2 per cent. Earlier, the turnover taxes, known as gambling participation fees, were 5 per cent turnover tax for online operators, and a 3 per cent tax for land-based casinos, as per an emergency ordinance. The new ordinance slaps a, as “gambling participation fees.” The gambling operators have to pay the gambling participation fees in addition to the already existing 16 per cent tax on the gross gambling revenue.

The lowering of the turnover tax will come as a relief to the gambling operators. However, it has been reported that the government will retroactively apply the tax to last year’s performance of gambling operators with a Romanian license. Operators are given a deadline, till February 25, to pay this amount.

The Romanian government has done this before in the past—retroactively charging the gambling industry to help fund its budget requirements. In 2015, operators which were going to be licensed at the time were required to pay back taxes, which was 20 per cent of the revenue they generated from Romanian punters since 2009. The government made a last-minute announcement to force operators to pay the amount.