Spanish Gambling Laws Unfair Contends E.C.J.

The European Union is at best struggling with years of traditions and differences in cultural morals and ethics within it's vastly diverse member nations. Online gambling seems to be a bone of contention in just a few of the members legislative agendas. Recently there have been numerous legal actions set in motion in the countries of Germany and Portugal and now there is trouble with the law regarding e commerce in Spain. The European Commission has an issue with Spain when it comes to the gambling laws in that country.

Players who win money through lotteries and games of chance that are offered by certain domestic operators do not have to pay any tax on their winnings. Where as players who win through offshore or foreign lotteries and games of chance must pay taxes on their winnings. Spain decided recently that it would change it's requirements for gambling operators in the country. It has moved to the privatization of the industry. New gambling legislation was introduced in an attempt to reduce the corruption in the government among officials that deal with the gambling finances. Under the new laws more than 4,000 lottery administrations and other similar businesses will be required to change their legal status. The state will cease to control 2% of the well over €30 billion market that would usually go to the Treasury. In a land where it citizens spend twice as much on gambling as is spent in the UK the government insists that the tax breaks come down to a matter of social policy, since the exempt games are all offered by charitable organizations. The European Court of Justice has noted that if this were the case, the tax exemption should equally apply to games offered by similar entities in other E.U. countries. The ECJ notes that this practice unjustly discriminates against foreign operators, and disregards the E.U. mandated free trade policy across national borders.