A proposal for a new EU-wide law alarms Malta's MEPs

A socialist MEP’s call for an EU-wide online iGaming tax has drawn criticism from Malta’s MEPs.

Victor Negrescu wants to strengthen the EU’s revenue base and curb illegal and black-market gambling via an EU-wide tax on the industry, according to a Politico article.

Negrescu, a vice-president of the European Parliament, sits on the BUDG committee, which formulates the parliament’s position on the EU’s budget.

Nationalist MEP Peter Agius warned that “European Socialists want to impose a tax on online gaming”.

However, Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba, who, like Negrescu, is in the S&D grouping, said Negrescu’s planned amendments do not necessarily reflect the position of the socialist group as a whole. “The issue has not been yet discussed at group level,” he told Times of Malta.

He said that even if the S&D group decides to support such a proposal, the three Maltese MEPs in the group will put the country’s interest first and oppose the idea in parliament.

“We [Labour MEPs] have never hesitated to vote against the position of our political group and in favour of the national interest in the past and we will do so again in the future when it comes to the gaming industry,” said Agius Saliba, who is a vice president of the socialist group in Europe.

Veto

The EU parliament alone cannot levy EU-wide taxes. That would require the EU’s 27 governments to agree. “We’re far from talking about that stage but, should we ever come to that stage, the Maltese government would definitely veto that idea,” EU insiders said.

Many sectors are regulated at EU level but gaming is not one of them, with rules and tax regimes varying widely across the 27-member bloc.

“There are some talks of having uniform regulations for the sector but that is still far off from really taking off,” government sources told Times of Malta.

There are some talks of having uniform regulations for the sector but that is still far off from really taking off- government sources

The lack of uniformity has led to a legal back and forth in Maltese and Austrian courts over attempts to recuperate losses from gamblers. The Maltese courts have repeatedly batted away attempts by Austrian plaintiffs to recuperate their losses after courts from their country said they are eligible.

Gaming companies wanting to keep their Austrian client’s losses have been bolstered by a Maltese law, which shields Malta-based gaming firms from judgments by foreign courts that go against the Maltese gaming framework.

The European Court of Justice can examine the legality of that law after the European Commission filed infringement proceedings against Malta. Should such proceedings not be resolved, the matter will be referred to the ECJ for judgment.