High Tax revenue from German online casinos

The state is making even more money from games of chance. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, during the last year the revenue from taxes on games of chance totalled more than 2.5 billion. When compared to the previous year this is an increase of more than ten per cent. How much revenue did the state make from the new virtual slot taxes?

Last June in an article we had raised the issue, whether there will be a drastic increase in the tax revenue from online games of chance in Germany. A few days ago, the MDR reported about the revenue from the games of chance which will keep increasing the money in the state coffers. An evaluation of the information given by the German Federal Statistical Office shows that in the past year Germany made 2.56 billion Euro from taxes from games of chance. The previous year the revenue from tax from the gambling sector was “only” 2.32 billion Euro. Within a year the tax amount has increased by a good ten per cent. The high tax revenue which is generated by the controversial virtual slot machine tax is especially worth mentioning.

Virtual slot tax keeps the state coffers supplied

The virtual slot tax which was introduced within the State Gambling Act (GlüStV) which came into effect in 2021, has ensured that the German government generated 428 million Euro in the past year. When compared to the previous year this is an increase of 126 %. Exactly a year ago, on Gamblejoe we had reported about the fact that there is large confusion on the virtual slot machine tax of 5.3% of the income.

The increase in the industry of online poker tax is similarly impressive. The nationwide tax revenue in 2021 in Germany was still 13.6 million Euro. In 2022 it was already 32.8 million. This means there was an increase of 141 %. The revenue made during the same time from the other areas, that is from the tax on lotteries and sports betting, remained unchanged. However, it is noticeable that the lion share of the taxes in the gambling industry is coming from the lottery tax (1.65 billion Euro). 

National tax revenue from games of chance in Germany:

Who is benefiting from the high tax revenue?

The tax revenue from the different forms of gambling is directly channelled to the respective regional budgets. Basically, there is no specified purpose for the tax revenue made from games of chance. This means that the regions are not obliged to use the tax monies for example for addiction, counselling or caritative projects. It is however a different story for the state lotto. At least part of the revenue here must be used for the areas of welfare, culture, sport, or nature protection.

Steffen Otterbach, Manager of the Research Centre for games of chance at the University of Hohenheim, had suggested to the MDR, that the high revenue is reinvested here. Just in January of this year we had reported about the fact that “die-spielbank.de” signified the first state-registered online casino in Germany.

When questioned by the MDR, as to how the high tax revenue from the games of chance will be used, a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry in Thüringen stated:

“just the same as the lottery and sports betting tax the newly introduced taxes underlie the principle of unity and are therefore for the benefit of the public welfare.”

Conclusion

In 2021 the state earned around 2.32 billion Euro from different games of chance. Last year, the amount was around 2.56 billion Euro, over ten per cent more. The percentual increase for online poker tax and virtual slots tax was 141% and 126 % respectively. Since there was a large increase in online casinos in Germany, we expect that the tax increase from the virtual slots tax will this year once again be significantly higher. 

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