City employee deliberately calculates amusement tax incorrectly

As a city inspector, Walter P. was actually responsible for ensuring that the city of Braunschweig received the amusement tax it was entitled to when gambling machines were used. However, the now 69-year-old decided to allow himself to be bribed by amusement arcade operators so that they would ultimately pay significantly less tax. The elderly gentleman has now had to answer for his actions at Braunschweig Regional Court.

The public prosecutor's office accused the 69-year-old defendant of deliberately miscalculating the amusement tax for amusement arcades in Braunschweig between 2012 and 2015. The aim was to reduce the tax burden for amusement arcade operators. In return, the former city inspector is said to have received a total of at least 70,000 euros from the operators, which he pocketed for himself. Back in September 2021, we at GambleJoe reported on a case in which a city official in Braunschweig was bribed by two gambling hall operators.

Several million euros in gaming revenue not recorded

According to the indictment, Walter P. allegedly failed to record a total of over 3.6 million euros in gaming revenue during the aforementioned period in order to reduce the operators' tax burden. The arcade owners would have had to pay around 700,000 euros in amusement tax on these unrecorded takings. According to official information from the city of Braunschweig, the amusement tax rate for "paid use of gaming machines with the possibility of winning is 22 per cent of the gaming revenue", i.e. 22%.

However, the former city inspector "only" received 70,000 euros in return for the fact that the casino operators saved around 700,000 euros in taxes. The now 69-year-old is said to have received at least part of the bribe money in envelopes from a casino operator. According to the indictment, Walter P. acted out of financial necessity. As a city inspector (pay grade A9), he last earned around 3,000 euros a month.

City employee transfers large sums abroad

As part of the police investigation, it became known that Walter P. and a friend of his together transferred over 100,000 euros abroad via Western Union. It is still unclear what the motive or purpose of the transfers was. In another case, we at GambleJoe reported that an employee of the tax office in Syke, Lower Saxony, embezzled a total of around 900,000 euros.

The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office is accusing the senior citizen of 140 counts of breach of trust and five counts of bribery. The ball is said to have been set rolling by a businesswoman who did not want to buy any advantages from Walter P. The Braunschweig Regional Court is due to hand down its verdict on 2 July 2024.

The amusement arcade operators involved were of course asked by the city of Braunschweig to pay the underpaid amusement tax. To date, the slot machine operators are said to have already paid 542,000 of around 700,000 euros, meaning that the damage suffered by the city of Braunschweig is becoming increasingly manageable.

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