Gambling industry facts: how much money state's budget lost in 5 years
19 груд. 2014 р.
Entertainments drive the modern world and form a significant part of today's global economy. Binding the excitement and the Internet in a single gambling business has created an outstanding business phenomenon of our time. The gambling industry with an expected annual turnover of more than USD 50 billion by 2017 is one of the most dynamic and technologically advanced sectors.
We offer the analytical review of the gambling industry in the world and in Ukraine. In brief form, we have attempted to present the key figures, facts and international practices of gambling regulation and taxation in various countries around the world.
Distinctive feature of Ukrainian model is almost complete legal ban of gambling activity since 2009. Over the period of the ban, which is in place currently, the State Budget of Ukraine did not collect billions of hrivnyas of taxes from gambling activity; economy lost tens of thousands of work places; sports and horse breeding lost traditional support from betting companies. This is the sad results of unjustified ban, which should be abolished, and thus it enters the gambling industry in Ukraine in the legal field.
In our view, the proposed statutes, prepared by the Ministry of Finance and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, solve the problem of legalization. Accompany with this legislative process, it is also necessary to provide reasonable taxation regime for gambling – preferably, based on fixed license fees and reasonable tax rates. This approach will allow gaming operators to develop the market publicly and provide planned budget revenues.
