by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 8, 2021 | Updated on Feb 8, 2021
Dutch poker players will now be refunded with the gambling tax imposed on their winnings on PokerStars.eu since May 2012.
This comes after the country’s tax agency decided to offer a settlement agreement to players, putting an end to a lengthy legal battle on whether or not winnings made by local players on the online poker site should be levied.
Poker has traditionally been treated as a form of gambling in the Netherlands.
Under the country’s gambling law which dates back to 1964, poker players must pay a gambling tax on their winnings, but that changed after the Dutch Supreme Court in 2015 handed out a ruling, exempting those playing on EU-established poker sites from paying taxes.
This led to a legal battle between the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (DTCA) and dozens of local poker players. At the center of contention was whether or not PokerStars.eu is located in the EU. Dutch players have been playing on the site since 2012.
The Dutch tax agency argued that since PokerStars is headquartered in the Isle of Man, the site is essentially located outside of the EU.
But the poker players involved in the legal action, represented by lawyer Pepijn Le Heux, are claiming the other way around, owing to the fact that PokerStars is licensed by the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Commission.
Malta is a member country of the EU, meaning PokerStars.eu’s official location is within the EU. And because of this, Dutch players who have been playing on PokerStars.eu since the site began operating in the region in 2012 should be off hook for any gambling tax.
The lower courts gave opposing verdicts on the matter, and the Supreme Court ultimately upheld each ruling, potentially resulting in the DTCA having to fight dozens more individual cases at a number of smaller courts.
Settlement Agreement
To avoid this scenario, the tax agency eventually offered tax reimbursements on winnings made on PokerStars.eu over the past nine years, meaning Dutch PokerStars players who had paid gambling tax within that period are entitled to refunds totaling millions.
Le Heux was initially offered the settlement, and the Dutch tax agency is also likely to offer a similar one to other attorneys should legal actions on the same matter arise in the future.
Following the settlement, tax authorities now officially acknowledge that PokerStars.eu is located in the EU, but the same cannot be said for the site’s French skin PokerStars.fr which was also used by Dutch players in the past. It was agreed that PokerStars.fr is based on the Isle of Man rather than France, meaning winnings made on the site are still subject to tax.
