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Taxing Regulated Internet Gambling Would Generate Billions in New Revenue |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Monday, 19 November 2007
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 A tax revenue analysis announced by Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) estimates that regulating Internet gambling would generate between $3.1 billion to $15.2 billion in federal revenues over its first five years, and between $8.7 billion to $42.8 billion over its first ten years. The data, based on a detailed analysis provided by an independent accounting firm, was provided in testimony submitted to the House Committee on the Judiciary where McDermott also detailed policy refinements to his legislation, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act.
“Even under the most conservative estimates, licensing and regulating Internet gambling – and collecting the taxes that are due – will provide much-needed revenue to the U.S. Treasury,” said McDermott. “This is money we are currently losing to other jurisdictions, for no other reason than some of my colleagues’ think we can actually stop people from gambling online. It is money we will continue to lose if we ignore the fact that if grown adults in America want to gamble online, they can and they will.”
The Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act has been refined to provide better protections against tax cheating and thereby increase federal revenue from permissible Internet gambling activity. The only new fee proposed is a payment equal to two percent of player deposits placed with a licensed gambling operator – fees paid by the operator, not the individual gambler. The two percent deposit fee is designed to equalize the costs of operation in providing gambling services online as opposed to brick and mortar casinos providing gambling services in-person, and would only be applied to online operators.
“To be clear, most of the revenues generated would come from taxes required under existing law that we currently lose because of a misguided belief that we can actually stop Internet gambling,” said McDermott. “Specifically, these are not new taxes, but rather taxes on existing activity that is currently unregulated, unsupervised, and underground.”
McDermott’s legislation functions as a companion bill to the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, legislation introduced by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) which would establish a licensing and enforcement framework for regulated Internet gambling in the U.S.
Based on a provision in Frank’s legislation that permits individual states and sports leagues to prohibit any Internet gambling, the lower figure of projected revenue from regulating Internet gambling reflects a situation in which sports leagues and most states opted-out of the system. An additional estimate of $6.3 billion over five years and $17.6 billion in revenue over ten years is based on an assumption that the sports leagues opt-out entirely and the states that permit gambling activities in brick and mortar casinos world permit the same activities online.
”By prohibiting a popular, recreational activity that many millions enjoy in the comfort of their own homes, the U.S. is forfeiting billions of dollars in revenue needed for critical government programs,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “It is time for Congress to regulate and tax Internet gambling to ensure security controls are in place to protect consumers and capture billions in revenue. Moreover, regulating Internet gambling could resolve a dispute around Internet gambling in the World Trade Organization that could force the U.S. to pay billions in trade compensation.”
To read McDermott’s testimony, please visit: www.safeandsecureig.org/media/mcdermotttestimony.pdf
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Last Updated ( Monday, 19 November 2007 )
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