EOGL Sarajevo Post-Event News: “Taxation in the European Gaming Industry”

The International conference was held in Sarajevo “Taxation in the European Gaming Industry”

On January 25th 2017 European Organization for Gaming Law (EOGL) organized the International conference “Taxation in the European Gaming Industry“ in Sarajevo.

European and local experts in economics, finance, law and the activity of organizing games of chance talked about the models of taxation in the European Union and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, analyzing the current Law on Games of Chance in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,as well as the proposed amendments to the Law on Games of Chance, proposed by the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The conclusion at the conference was that the taxation of all payments and winnings is contrary to the positive legal practices in the European Union and in other developed countries in the world. Also it was emphasized that the problem of increasing height of utility taxes and the existence of other para fiscal charges, make difficult or completely impossible for the organizers of games of chance to run a business, which questions the existence of this activity in the market.

Participants of this conference agreed that the model of taxation proposed by the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is harmful to the economic environment, state budget, and therefore the citizens of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several steps were suggested to the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that the Government should carry out if it wants to regulate the market and pass the regulations in accordance with the principles of the European Union and current trends in the world. Those steps are:

• Carry out an economic analysis of the current situation on the market, as well as the application of certain tax regimes on the current situation of payments, payouts, operating costs etc;
• Establish a special regulatory body within the Government of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will carry out the licencing of all organizers of games of chance, whose role would be to provide more order on the market through control and monitoring of all the participants;
• Join the taxation model which is compatible with the West European and which will take into consideration the received payments and payouts, as well as the operating costs of the organizer, making sure that the model of taxation does not disable the positive performance of local organizers;
• Avoid tax system that burdens the organizers of games of chance more than they can pay and more than they are burdened in other West European countries which have a long tradition of taxation of games of chance and have a stable fiscal system;
• Have identical tax on all kinds of games of chance without making a difference between the lottery and betting games, slot machines and casinos, as well as the equal conditions (regarding aprovals, distances from schools etc) for all the organizers, state- owned or private companies;
• Enable organizers of games of chance which are via internet coming to the world market from the jurisdiction of Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina a competitive contest with others organizers from around the world;
• Introduce sever penalties for the participants in the black market.

Bojić : “We do not approve the intention to destroy legal activity”
President of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bruno Bojic also addressed to those present at the conference, saying that the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not approve and does not support the intention to destroy a legal activity, like activity of organizing games of chance and emphasized that he will not allow “destabilization” of economic market in Bosnia and Herzegovina.