Costa Rica may no longer be a financial haven for online gambling operators if any number of proposed tax schemes is passed.
The country's Partido Acción Ciudadana (Citizen's Action Party) has introduced legislation to tax sports books and other betting operations based on the number of employees on their payroll, reports Costa Rican English-language daily AM Costa Rica.
The new proposal, No. 16.450, imposes a heavier tax burden than a previously stalled tax plan introduced in 2003. The preceding plan would have required operators with up to 20 employees to pay a $20,000 annual tax, posed as a licensing fee. Operators with 21-40 employees would have paid $40,000 and those with more than 60 would have paid $60,000. After two days of protest from local sports book employees, the 2003 proposal died in the legislature.
The new plan, however, proposes fees from $28,000 to $54,600.
In addition, Costa Rican President Óscar Arias Sánchez has proposed a tax plan that requires online casinos and sports books to register with the Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Comercio (Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce). In the future, unregistered companies will be illegal in Costa Rica, the report said.
Under Arias' plan, licensing fees for companies with up to 10 employees would be required to pay $19,200 a year. Firms with 61 or more employees would pay $46,100, making the Acción Ciudadana proposal around 18.5 percent higher.