Austria hits bet-at-home with €12m tax bill

The tax authorities in Austria will issue bet-at-home an €11.9 million bill, parent company Betclic Everest Group says, amid a tax assessment on its subsidiary.

Austria.- Betclic Everest Group revealed that the tax authorities in Austria will hit subsidiary bet-at-home with a huge tax bill. The company explained its Linz-based subsidiary will get an €11.9 million bill from the government.

Austria is conducting a tax assessment on bet-at-home.com Entertainment through the Ministry of Finance. According to bet-at-home, auditors have questioned the level of internal transfer pricing within the business.

Even as the auditors haven’t revealed their concerns bet-at-home assures it expects to pay that amount. It is correspondent to the five-year period following discussions with the authorities.

Austria looks to update gaming

Austria is looking to update its gambling industry with new regulations, as the current ones have been operating for more than four decades. Lower Austria, the largest state in the country, has submitted to the European Commission its sports betting laws to regulate online and retail betting.

The current legislation, called Law on the Activities of Totalizators and Bookmakers, received the green light in 1978 and has been regulating the industry ever since. The Lower Austria Sports Betting Act wants to update the current laws, updated six times in the last 19 years. However, the government believes that a comprehensive update is necessary. It says every year there are more and more technological developments around the gambling industry.

Lower Austria’s legislation is also compliant with the European Union’s Fourth Money Laundering Directive. The Act establishes that sports betting operators can apply for online or retail licences. New entrants can only get licences for two years, while those renewing them can apply for 10-year licences. Online sports betting licences are limited to two-year terms.