Alongside the chimpanzees and hybrid Spanish/English people that not so much chose as were born onto the Rock, Gibraltar’s main industry is the burgeoning online gambling industry that exists on the enclave off the coast of Spain. As we near the second year of this decade, almost all major gaming companies operating in continental Europe have set up on the Rock and the administration have now seen the potential it could continue to bring.
As well as analysing the industry on the island as a whole, an article in the Guardian also explains that the tax has now been increased ten-fold by Gibraltar’s government. Currently firms pay 1% with a ceiling of €500,000, which will rise to 10% but VAT still doesn’t apply to anyone operating meaning it still remains the place to be for online companies.
After trousering €12.4m (£10.5m) last year from the online gambling industry alone, and it accounting for 12% of the country’s workforce, it’s little surprised that they see it as quite the cash cow right now.
Victor Chandler, who moved there in 1998, told El Pais: “Nobody will leave, although we’ll all complain about the tax going up.”
Therefore, if all they have to worry about is a band of online gambling moguls having a bit of a moan, then they may as well hike it up as much as they think they can get away with. When countries start to regulate and only allow companies to operate within their own shores they may start to worry, the likelihood of that happening on a Europe-wide basis anytime soon? Well it’s about as likely as Tiger Woods getting back with Elin Nordgren.
