Interactive

Argentina – Province of Córdoba to apply online gaming tax

By Phil - 28 November 2017

The Ministry of Finance for the province of Córdoba has announced that it will begin to apply a tax on online gaming transactions.

The new tax, which will go into effect in January, aims to generate around $75m (US$4.4m) a year for state coffers. Credit cards will be responsible for charging players for any online gaming transactions and withholding the new tax according to a report in local daily La Voz.

Online gaming via offshore sites has been growing for several years in the province. From January the new charge will be applied to all transactions made in the province. According to the Ministry of Finance, the government estimates that the new charge will generate $75m in 2018 and the forecast is that the government will collect around $1,500m the year after at a rate of $126m per month.

Under current plans, the government will collect 10.5 per cent of all bets made online. Credit card companies will apply the charge and then transfer it to the government. The new charge will be applied to all online games, over all online platforms and will be applicable to all operators offering their services locally. The government plans to pay special attention to some of the larger online companies offering their services locally, according to local press.

At first, the Ministry of Finance for the province said that the new tax would make up in part for lost tax revenues made from offshore operators, which could be as high as $1,800m while the new tax will only contribute $75m. However, the new charge could be the first in a series of steps the government is looking to take in order to raise more tax income from the industry. “We know that it is not an important amount, but we are going to set a precedent from this point onwards,” the Ministry of Finance said.

In Argentina, online gaming has been permitted since 2006 but only on a province-to-province basis and there is no national law in place, which regulates online gaming. A very small number of licences have been issued and only locally authorised online sites may offer their service in the province where they operate. Demand is particularly high in Argentina due to the huge local passion for sports and because of a lack of any attractive land based sports betting offer.