Gambling tax rates across Europe: What operators and players pay

European gambling tax rates vary widely, with headline percentages not always telling the full story. Gambling tax 2026 rules also use different tax bases, which can change how much operators actually pay. 

This article explores how gambling is taxed across eight European markets (the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark), looking at the main operator taxes and when players may also have to pay tax. 

Key findings

• France has the highest headline rate: 59.3% of PBJ on online sports betting.
• Germany’s 5.3% rate looks low but is charged on stakes, not GGR.
• Turnover taxes usually cost operators more in practice than GGR or NGR taxes.
• UK operators cut slots RTP after the Remote Gaming Duty rise to 40%.
• Player winnings tax varies by country, and sometimes by operator licence.

Gambling tax rates across Europe compared

The table below shows the main gambling tax rates in September 2026. However, the percentages need to be read together with the tax base, because countries don’t always tax on the same amounts. 

Most use a gross gaming revenue (GGR) or gross gambling yield (GGY)-style base, which broadly means the money left after winnings are paid. France also uses produit brut des jeux (PBJ), a similar measure. 

How do gambling taxes work? 

Gambling taxes can be calculated in different ways, so a gambling tax rate means little unless you know what the tax is charged on. 

The main approaches are: 

• GGR/GGY-style taxation: Many online gambling taxes are based on the money left after winnings are paid. 
• Turnover or stakes taxation: Tax is charged on money wagered rather than gaming revenue. 

Player taxation is separate. A gaming tax or betting tax paid by an operator isn’t the same as a gambling tax on a player’s winnings. 

UK gambling tax 

One of the biggest recent gambling tax changes in the UK was the rise in Remote Gaming Duty. On 1 April 2026, the rate increased to 40% of remote gaming profits, when it had previously been 21%. 

The current UK gambling tax rate includes:

• Remote gaming: 40% of remote gaming profits 
• Standard fixed-odds sports betting: 15% of net stake receipts under General Betting Duty. However, other types of betting can have different rates. 

As of 1 April 2027, a new UK gambling tax rate of 25% for remote betting will apply, although some bets will be excluded (including remote bets on UK horse racing). 

The rises are already costing jobs: five large UK operators announced job cuts or shop closures in 2026, evoke, Entain, Betfred, Flutter Entertainment, and bet365, with bet365 citing higher regulatory and tax-related costs when it confirmed 340 role reductions on 8 September 2026. 

Higher operator taxes can also affect the products offered to players. Ed Birkin, Managing Director at H2 Gambling Capital, told European Gaming:

‘Pricing and payouts move first under a turnover tax, and also under a large enough GGR increase — the UK is the current example, with operators cutting slots RTP materially in response to the remote gaming duty rise.’

Are players taxed in the UK?

For players, gambling tax UK rules are different because ordinary recreational gambling winnings are generally tax-free in the UK. Also, since gambling isn’t normally treated as a trade, players usually can’t claim tax relief on their losses. 

Germany gambling tax

Germany uses a different tax base from most markets in this comparison, because its main online gambling taxes are based on the amount players stake. 

This means that the taxable amount is based on the stake paid, with the gambling tax itself deducted from that amount. 

However, Germany doesn’t have a single tax rate that covers every type of online gambling. At the national level, there is a rate of 5.3% of stakes being applied to: 

• Sports betting
• virtual slots
• and online poker.

Are players taxed in Germany?

For players, recreational winnings are generally tax-free. Online poker profits can become taxable business income if the activity is considered commercial or professional.

France gambling tax

France doesn’t have one gambling tax rate for all types of online gambling. The amount operators pay depends on the product, and some products have more than one charge. Its market is split between sports betting, horse-race betting, and poker. 

The main figures are: 

• Online sports betting: gambling-specific charges add up to 59.3% of PBJ, which is broadly similar to GGR and means the amount left after winnings are paid. However, this is a total of several charges, not one tax:
  • Fiscal levy: 33.7% 
  • Social levy: 15.0% 
  • Sports levy: 10.6%

• Online horse-race betting: 53.9% of PBJ in combined levies in 2026, made up of:
  • Levy paid to racing companies: 26.8% 
  • Fiscal levy: 20.2%
  • Social levy: 6.9% 

• Online poker: France applies two main gambling-specific levies, but they’re calculated on different bases:
  • Fiscal levy: 1.8% of the amount wagered on online circle games, which covers regulated online poker. For tournaments, the base includes entry fees and any later re-entry fees. For other circle games, the levy is capped at €0.90 per hand. 
  • Social levy: 10% of PBJ 

Are players taxed in France?

For players, ordinary winnings from games of chance are generally not taxed as income. Regular skill-based gambling can be taxed if it produces significant income, with professional poker being one example. 

Italy gambling tax

Italy increased its main online gambling tax rates on 1 January 2025: 

• Remote casino and related games: 25.5% of amounts not returned to players.
• Remote fixed-odds sports betting: 24.5% of stakes minus winnings paid. 

Are players taxed in Italy?

For players, winnings from Italy’s regulated gambling system generally don’t lead to a separate income tax charge. However, winnings from foreign online gambling can be taxable if no tax has already been taken. 

Spain gambling tax 

Spain’s standard gambling tax rate is 20% of net gaming income, which covers ordinary betting as well as online casino and poker. 

The main rates are:

• Standard rate: 20% of net gaming income 
• Ceuta and Melilla: 10% for qualifying operators that are based and tax-resident there. 

The tax is broadly charged on stakes and other gaming income after prizes are paid. Autonomous communities can also raise certain rates by up to 20% for gambling linked to their residents. 

Are players taxed in Spain?

For players, gambling gains are taxable and losses can reduce taxable gains, but only up to the amount won. 

Netherlands gambling tax

The Netherlands has raised its gambling tax rate twice in two years: it was 30.5% in 2024, rose to 34.2% in 2025, and increased again to 37.8% in 2026. 

For online gambling: 

• KSA-licensed operator: the operator files and pays the tax each month. 
• Unlicensed operator: the player may have to file if their monthly winnings are higher than their stakes. 

Are players taxed in the Netherlands?

The bottom line is that players using a KSA-licensed online operator don’t need to pay the tax themselves, so the licence status is what defines who pays up. 

Sweden gambling tax

Sweden charges a 22% gambling tax rate on the amount left after winnings are paid out, with the tax applying to licensed commercial online gambling (including online casino games), as well as betting.

Are players taxed in Sweden?

For players: 

• Licensed gambling and some winnings from operators in EU/EEA countries: can be tax-free. 
• Other winnings: may be taxed as capital income. 

Denmark gambling tax 

Denmark charges a 28% gambling tax rate on online casino and betting, based on the money left after winnings are paid. 

Are players taxed in Denmark?

For players: 

• Danish-licensed online gambling: winnings are tax-free.
• Foreign online gambling: winnings can also be tax-free if the operator and game meet Denmark’s EU/EEA conditions, the game is supervised by a public authority, and the same type of game is legal in Denmark. Otherwise, the winnings are taxable. 

Which European countries have the highest gambling rates? 

Among the more comparable GGR/GGY-based rates, France has the highest headline figure, with online sports betting facing charges equal to 59.3%. 

However, Birkin said that the headline percentage doesn’t necessarily show the full burden on operators: 

‘Headline rate is a poor guide. Some turnover-based systems can carry a lower ‘effective’ nominal rate than the highest GGR regimes, but they impose a greater burden once you account for the margin inflation they force.’

Other headline rates include: 

• UK: 40.0% for remote gaming 
• The Netherlands: 37.8% 
• Denmark: 28.0%
• Italy: 25.5% for remote casino and 24.5% for remote sports betting 
• Sweden: 22.0% 
• Spain: 20.0% at the standard rate 

Germany needs to be treated differently, because although the headline rate is only 5.3%, the tax is based on stakes rather than GGR. France’s online poker taxes also use two different bases, so they can’t be reduced to one directly comparable percentage. 

Birkin said the usual way of comparing the two systems can still hide some of the impact of a turnover tax: 

‘The better conversion uses the margin the operator would run at absent the tax. Sportsbooks would normally price to around a 10% margin; on that basis, the same 5% turnover tax is an effective 50% GGR tax. While 50% isn’t the operator’s effective tax rate, the gap between the two figures can be used as a proxy for the distortion the tax has forced into the product.’

For example, imagine an operator takes €100 million in stakes and pays €90 million back as winnings, leaving €10 million in GGR:

• UK: a 40% remote gaming duty would mean €4 million in tax. 
• Germany: a 5.3% virtual-slot tax would mean about €5.03 million in tax.  
• In this example, Germany’s tax would equal around 50.3% of the €10 million GGR. 

Essentially, when comparing tax on gambling, the tax base can matter as much as the percentage.

Birkin said there’s no perfect way to compare the two types of tax:

‘There is no single clean comparator. But in the large majority of cases, a turnover tax carries a heavier real burden than a GGR or NGR tax, unless the headline turnover rate is low enough that the margin uplift required is marginal.’

Are gambling winnings taxed in Europe?

There isn’t one Europe-wide gambling winnings tax rule. The tax on gambling winnings depends on the country and, in some markets, on the operator’s licence or where the operator is based. 

What gambling taxes mean for iGaming operators

A tax rise does not land in one place. Birkin said the impact arrives in sequence, with pricing and payouts moving first and the rest following.

‘What can’t be passed through hits margin, which then constrains investment,’ he said.

Promotional budgets go early. ‘Promotional spend is cut early because it is discretionary, and under a GGR base it is taxed rather than relieved,’ Birkin said. 

The net effect, he added, is ‘a licensed product that is weaker on price, payout and promotion simultaneously — which is a direct competitive transfer to unregulated operators.’

The squeeze is tighter in online casino than in betting, because margins are thinner to start with. Birkin said:

‘The distortion is starker in iGaming, where margins are thinner. A 5% turnover tax can only be absorbed by cutting RTP to roughly 88%, against 97% offshore. Consumers get a materially worse product, giving unlicensed operators a material advantage.’

That feeds back into the tax base itself. Birkin said a weaker licensed product pushes volume offshore, which raises the operator’s effective rate and shrinks the revenue left to tax. On that combined measure of effective rate plus channelisation, he said turnover-based systems create the greatest economic headwind in Europe. Outside Europe, the effect is sharper again, with several African markets levying deposit taxes and player winnings taxes that hit the customer before any play occurs.

Which base a country chooses, therefore, matters as much as the rate it sets. Birkin said the fairest starting point is the operator’s actual revenue, meaning net gaming revenue (NGR) after bonuses and promotions are deducted.

‘GGR is an accepted compromise, but it still taxes free bets and so still distorts competition. Turnover is the worst of the three,’ he added.

FAQs

What is the gambling tax rate?

There is no universal gambling tax rate. Every country sets its own rates, and those rates often differ by product within the same market. The tax base also varies, so two countries with similar headline percentages can impose very different real costs.

Which European country has the highest gambling tax?

On comparable GGR-style bases, France has the highest headline figure, with online sports betting facing combined charges equal to 59.3% of PBJ. The UK follows at 40% for remote gaming, then the Netherlands at 37.8%. Headline rates alone are misleading, though. Germany’s 5.3% rate is charged on stakes rather than GGR, and on a typical 10% sportsbook margin a stakes-based tax translates into a far higher effective GGR rate.

Do you pay tax on gambling winnings in Europe?

There is no Europe-wide rule. Winnings are generally tax-free for recreational players in the UK, Germany, and Denmark, and taxable in Spain. In the Netherlands, it depends on the operator’s licence, and in Sweden, on the operator’s licence and location.

Professional or commercial gambling can be taxable even in markets where recreational play is not.

How does gambling tax work?

Most European online gambling taxes use a GGR or GGY-style base, charged on the money left after winnings are paid. Germany instead taxes stakes, with the tax itself deducted from the taxable amount. France mixes both, applying a stakes levy and a PBJ levy to online poker. Separately, some countries tax the player’s winnings, which is a different charge from the operator’s tax and is not always paid by the same party.

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