Poker Players to be Taxed Daily in Greece

PokerStars has launched its legal client in Greece. Players of the .gr site play with the .com player pool but have to pay their taxes after their poker income on a daily basis.

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PokerStars has officially announced the launch of the PokerStars.gr site, in accordance with the Greek online gambling regulations. Residents of the country are only accepted here and cannot access the .com client. Nevertheless, they play against the international pool, except they have to pay their taxes on a daily basis: the Player Withholding Tax (PWT).

PokerStars has sent the following letter to its Greek players:

“Dear xy,

“In order for PokerStars to be able to continue offering poker to our players in Greece we need to make some changes to the service. This email explains how this may affect you.

“Our Greek service will now operate from the new PokerStars.gr site which is jointly operated with Diamond Link Limited, a Maltese company that is regulated by the Maltese Lotteries and Gaming Authority and holds an interim online gaming license in Greece under article 50 (12) of law 4002/2011. If you are based in Greece, you will need to accept our new End User License Agreement saying that you acknowledge this change. This will not affect your account: your account details, balances, VPPs and VIP status will be unchanged. And, of course, you will be able to play against players from all over the world!

“When you next start the PokerStars client, on or after this date, you will be prompted to accept the new end user license agreement and then proceed to play poker as usual, no new poker client will be downloaded. You don’t need to do anything else.

“You should note, however, that as a result of the change you may now become liable to pay withholding tax on any significant profits from your poker play in the future in accordance with regulations in Greece. This will start from Friday 22nd November. Accepting the new EULA will not trigger any tax liability regarding past play and current available balance,” the letter reads.

PWT means taxing on a daily basis. Win €100 or less on any given day and it is tax-free. Pay 15% in tax after winnings between €100 and €500 and 20% after winnings over €500. Of course, the room still deducts rake and losses are apparently (although not confirmedly) not deducted from the amounts won; they are likely to simply fall into the €100 or less category.

Taxing is based on location and not nationality, so it applies to all players residing in Greece but not to Greek players who have official place of residence abroad.