[oldbookguy]

That is the bill submitted by the Rep. from Washington, a deposit excise tax for online gambling, 2% of all deposits, not the normal .25% of bets.

Your question / point of legal is the point, which excise tax applies to poker, and really does any.

Perhaps Russ Fox, if he reads this, could weigh in here.

Do 'SKILL' gaming sites pay any excise tax, I do not know. They claim to be not gambling since skill is a predominate factor.

Countries do tax companies from other countries, simply look at a U. S. tax form.
There is a deduction for taxes paid on income made in and paid to a foreign country, so I would guess this applies to gambling companies. So, I would say this excise tax applies to Offshore companies.

Someone will need to look, I do not have it, but I think this is one of the charges against Kaplan in the BoS case as well, not paying the excise tax. If not his, then one of the cases, that is why I looked it up, I saw it as a charge someplace a while back.

obg

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The question is are the offshore online gambling sites illegal? Case law says yes for sports betting and no for other types, but that was before the WTO decision. Also, does this excise tax apply to offshore companies? No other nation taxes foreign online gambling sites not operating within it borders.
Moreover, would this remain the tax if online gambling was regulated and taxed? If so, then I agree that all the offshore online gambling sites would gladly pay it for legality.

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