Bingo Industry Wins Legal Battle With Tax Man
Anthony Wayne
Bingo Industry Wins Legal Battle With Tax Man
No one enjoys paying taxes and internet bingo providers are no exception. Bingo industry giant Mecca has had a prolonged legal battle with the tax man and received some good news this week. Yesterday (Dec. 15th) a tribunal riled that Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs will have to refund £25.9m ($42.1million USD) in VAT taxes collected from the Rank group which owns Mecca. Earlier in the year the government imposed a 22% tax on bingo causing many bingo halls to shutter their doors. Bingo is taxed at a much higher rate than any other form of gambling in the UK.
The bingo industry which was already under severe financial pressure due to the smoking ban and taxation had engaged in an intense lobbying campaign against the new taxes. The industry had said that the VAT and the gross profits tax were unfair. Professional services group Deloitte has said that the bingo industry could be owed as much as £500 million pounds ($817,378,851 USD) in overpaid VAT taxes. Rank's courtroom win has prompted some analysts to predict a rise in Rank shares. The company has been hard hit by the smoking ban and the current recession. Rank expects to receive about £25.9million pounds ($42,333,644 USD) from Revenue and Customs during the first quarter of 2010.
The bingo industry, including the internet bingo industry, had conducted a lobbying campaign called, 'Bingo Tax Should Be Based on Fact' and encouraged bingo players to voice their concerns to Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP. The bingo industry in the UK is one of the few growth industries and it is baffling why the government would subject the industry to incredibly high taxation. Despite the taxation policies the internet bingo industry remains strong and attracts new players daily. Unfortunately tax authorities have indicated they will appeal the decision by Revenue and Customs. Hopefully the outcome will favour the internet bingo industry.
Why the government placed such an onerous tax on bingo is beyond logic. The smoking ban almost killed the land based bingo industry and now taxation threatens to destroy the land based bingo industry. The growth of the internet bingo industry has resulted in intense competition for new players. Bingo sites are struggling to attract players with bigger free bingo bonuses and many sites offer a bingo deposit bonus that can be used to purchase cards and play special games. Many sites offer special games, each with its own bingo bonus code. Players can search the various sites for the best bingo bonus. Times have never been so good for bingo players!
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