The Minister of Finance proposes to increase the gambling tax to 22%

The text has been supplemented with new information

“I have prepared and today I will register a proposal for a bill to increase the gambling tax from 20% to 22%.” In this way, about 4.4 million could be collected. EUR of additional income, and those funds could be directed to the dissemination of social advertising by offering people to give up gambling,” G. Skaistė told Žinių radio on Thursday.

“The gambling sector is not one that should be promoted, it often creates social problems, so one sector should not live at the expense of another sector, other people’s well-being,” she added.

The proposals submitted by G. Skaistė to the Law on Lotteries and Gambling Tax provide that if the tax base is changed, as proposed in the draft, the gambling organizer would not be able to fulfill its obligations regarding the payment of winnings, because the tax burden would exceed the net income of the gambling organizer.

“Therefore, in order to achieve the goal of the project, it is proposed to increase the tax rate, instead of changing the tax base,” the minister comments on the proposed changes to the project.

In the reasons for the proposal, she stated, among other things, that the allocation of additional millions to the dissemination of social gambling prevention advertising would help to mitigate the impact on the potential decrease in income of the media segment, if the ban on gambling advertising currently being considered in parallel in the Seimas is adopted.

Remote and land-based gaming companies pay a 20% rate from July 2022, and lottery companies – 18% from January 2023.

Gambling and lotteries have a different tax base: gambling tax is calculated on net income (bet income minus winnings), while lottery tax is calculated on the total income received from lottery tickets sold.

According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, in 2022 gambling organizers paid 31.8 million to the state budget. EUR, 2023 – 43.7 million EUR gambling tax.

The winning fund when organizing games with slot machines of category A must be at least 90%, and when organizing games with slot machines of category B not less than 80% of the total amount of contributions. Accordingly, the gambling organizer’s net income from gambling activities is 10% and 20%.

In March, the Seimas accepted for consideration the amendments submitted by a group of parliamentarians from various factions to completely ban gambling advertising. It is also proposed to allow people from the age of 21 to play all gambling games and participate in lotteries.

According to the data of the Gambling Supervision Service, 12 companies organize gambling in Lithuania. After deducting the winnings paid from the received income, in 2021-2022 market revenue grew by 44% – from 136.2 million EUR up to 195.8 million. EUR, and in 2023 they amounted to 222.2 million EUR – 13.5% more than last year.

The profit of gambling organizers increased to 59.9 million. EUR 39.8 million last year. Eur in 2021.

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