888 latest operator to settle Spanish tax bill
William Hill now the only major publicly listed operator yet to announce an agreement to pay back tax.
888 has become the latest operator to settle its Spanish tax bill following last week’s announcements that bwin.party, Sportingbet and Betfair have reached agreements with the Spanish Tax Authority to pay back tax on operations between January 2009 and May 2011.
The Gibraltar-licensed operator has completed a self-assessment tax return, and will make a one-off payment of 7.4m, with an additional 1.3m in surcharges and interest. The total payment of 8.7m is smaller than expected, with a spokesman for 888 estimating a settlement between 10 and 20m when contacted by eGaming Review last week.
In a statement released this morning 888 announced it was now satisfied that it would be certified to operate in Spain, with licences expected to be awarded this Friday, ahead of the revised June 30 deadline: “Following this payment, 888 believes that it has fulfilled all requirements necessary to receive a Spanish egaming licence, with awards set to begin at the start of June.”
888 becomes the fifth operator to announce that it was to pay its tax bill, with bwin.party the first to do so, paying a total consideration of 33m early last week. This was followed by Sportingbet’s announcement that it was to pay 14m plus interest and surcharges of 3.2m, while Betfair will pay “not more than 10m” for its operations over the period. Ladbrokes is also known to have reached an agreement with the tax authority, describing its payment as “not a material number when compared with bwin.party and Sportingbet.”
As a result of 888’s settlement William Hill is the only publicly listed, leading European operator yet to announce whether it will pay off its tax bill. Private operators such as Bet365 and PokerStars are also thought to be in discussions, and eGR understands that 365 has paid an undisclosed amount.
A spokesman for Stars hinted that it was planning to pay its bill, telling eGR on Friday: “We are complying with all of the requirements for obtaining a Spanish license.”
The back tax case has been brought against the operators by the Spanish tax authority, and is unconnected to the Spanish regulatory body, the General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ). However, in an exclusive interview with eGR DGOJ general director Enrique Alejo admitted that while the issuing of licences was a “completely separate” issue to the back tax case, the tax authority could force the regulator to reject applications based on whether operators had paid off outstanding tax bills.