A new report claims that Israel would net NIS 1.2billion in taxes if just half of the “illicit gambling” that goes on in the country were legalized. A study by economist Avichai Snir of Netanya Academic College and Ronen Bar-El of the Open University, quoted by Haaretz, claims that of the NIS 12.5bn spent on sports gambling, NIS 11bn is spent on unregulated sites. The study suggests the country could make huge amounts from full regulation of online gambling whilst stating that regulation would allow a greater oversight on the industry and thus prevent any opportunities for match fixing.
The country’s regulated online betting is currently controlled by the state-owned Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB) with LVS Ltd and Lotsys SAS – two subsidiaries of Francais de Jeux (FDJ) – handling the country’s online needs. Allowing some of the best international gambling firms to operate in the country will only make the market safer and a lot more lucrative. Although it remains unlikely the monopoly will take a different path after only just awarding a 10-year contract to the two FDJ firms.
If Israel wants an example of how to regulate your gambling industry, the UK would be a good place to start and more details today emerged as to how the UK plan on luring back firms headquartered in other jurisdictions. A senior government source is quoted by the MailOnline as stating the Treasury is ready to cut the rate by a third to attract companies back from jurisdictions such as Gibraltar, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The plan is to lower the tax rate from 15 percent to 10 percent with the headline that it will save those firms around £100million. Hugh Robertson, minister for sports and tourism, added: “These proposals will ensure that British consumers enjoy consistent standards of protection, regardless of where a gambling business is based.”
