Online Casino Style: News - Costa Rican Regulation Comes Thru

09/04/2010		Online Casino Style - News: Costa Rican Regulation Comes Thru
Home History Games News Dictionary		It seems that a definitive answer has finally been given by the government of Costa Rica, now run by the administration associated with newly elected president Laura Chinchilla. The struggle in the small nation has been ongoing for a number of years, with attempts to regulate and tax the internet casino operators that are based off the island continually falling through, leaving the region largely unruly from a governmental perspective. Rumors in recent weeks that a taxation platform had finally been decided upon were confirmed, with a statement by the Finance Ministry unveiling the plans. The drafting of the program has been worked and re-worked for weeks, needing revisions after a very effective protest by the local operators. It’s a delicate situation, as if the taxes are too much, operators will likely abandon ship, leaving the Costa Rican government without the tax funds at all. The plans for now will set up first and foremost a Gambling Control Board to manage the internet casinos and gaming operations. The new body will be financed from a regulatory tax currently set at 0.5 percent per year of the companies’ gross incomes. A report by Tax News gave even more information, clarifying that it will be this same body’s responsibility to issue operational licenses, valid for up to six years. Non-compliance – meaning companies that choose not to get licensed and continue to operate – will be held liable to fees, fines, and punitive measures. The bill also calls for a 15 percent tax on the gross monthly income taken in by online gambling companies, as well as a annual fee of $50,000. The new Gambling Control Board will be under the supervision of a Supreme Council, on which will sit the Minister of the Interior and Police, creating a semi-system of checks and balances. It is the government’s hope that the measure will go through this time, and be implemented, as the poor nation is in ever desperate need of new funds. Politicians are saying that a portion of the income will go directly into helping Costa Rica to fight the rising crime rates.

09/04/2010

Online Casino Style - News:
Costa Rican Regulation Comes Thru

It seems that a definitive answer has finally been given by the government of Costa Rica, now run by the administration associated with newly elected president Laura Chinchilla. The struggle in the small nation has been ongoing for a number of years, with attempts to regulate and tax the internet casino operators that are based off the island continually falling through, leaving the region largely unruly from a governmental perspective. Rumors in recent weeks that a taxation platform had finally been decided upon were confirmed, with a statement by the Finance Ministry unveiling the plans.

The drafting of the program has been worked and re-worked for weeks, needing revisions after a very effective protest by the local operators. It’s a delicate situation, as if the taxes are too much, operators will likely abandon ship, leaving the Costa Rican government without the tax funds at all. The plans for now will set up first and foremost a Gambling Control Board to manage the internet casinos and gaming operations. The new body will be financed from a regulatory tax currently set at 0.5 percent per year of the companies’ gross incomes.

A report by Tax News gave even more information, clarifying that it will be this same body’s responsibility to issue operational licenses, valid for up to six years. Non-compliance – meaning companies that choose not to get licensed and continue to operate – will be held liable to fees, fines, and punitive measures.

The bill also calls for a 15 percent tax on the gross monthly income taken in by online gambling companies, as well as a annual fee of $50,000. The new Gambling Control Board will be under the supervision of a Supreme Council, on which will sit the Minister of the Interior and Police, creating a semi-system of checks and balances. It is the government’s hope that the measure will go through this time, and be implemented, as the poor nation is in ever desperate need of new funds. Politicians are saying that a portion of the income will go directly into helping Costa Rica to fight the rising crime rates.