Every gambler who has cashed in may have pondered about the questions of taxation. Do I have to pay taxes on my winnings? What about the tax rates? Are they different from game to game? Whether you are an Online Poker pro or a fan of Casino games, everybody has to face the tax authorities at some point. A prominent example is the young Danish Poker pro Eastgate who has recently won the world’s biggest land poker event and achieved the first price of around $9 million.
The frustration however must have started when he arrived back home and was welcomed with tax claims of more than half of his price money. Media reports claim that he will lose almost $6.6 millions to the Danish tax authorities. This is not only frustrating but also creates an irony of fate because his Heads Up opponent from Russia is facing far lower tax claims and could in terms of after tax price money be the winner with around $5 million.
If you read the term ‘tax haven’, images of beaches in the Caribbean or picturesque mountain panoramas in Switzerland or Liechtenstein pop up in your head. Who would think of the German lowlands? The more surprising if you consider that, if the WSOP winner would have been German, he would have kept his entire winnings without being bothered by thoughts about taxes. Nevertheless it might be a question of time until the German tax authorities lay their hands on Online Poker and Casino winnings.
