by Mario Alfonsi | Published on May 22, 2012 | Updated on May 22, 2012When Spain revealed recently that operators seeking online poker licenses in their newly regulated market would be expected to pay taxes on their last four years of operations in the country, many speculated that some of the big names in the online poker world might shy away due to the extremely large bills they might face. But bwin.party has decided to pay up, apparently valuing the long-term benefit of being in the Spanish poker marketplace more than the one time cost.According to bwin.party, they completed a “self-assessment” as required by the Spanish Tax Authority, and will be paying about €33.6 million to Spain to cover their operations with Spanish customers over the last four years. That total includes not only the taxes they would have paid, but about €8 million in interest.“Having taken these steps, we believe we have now fulfilled all requirements and look forward to receiving our license and entering the Spanish market,” bwin.party said in a statement.Over the coming weeks, it is expected that many other operators will have to make choices between paying their back taxes or staying out of the Spanish online poker landscape. The biggest decision of all may lie with PokerStars, which could owe up to €200 million to Spain. However, it’s possible the bill may not be quite so large; after all, early estimates suggested bwin.party could owe up to €60 million, and it turned out that the final cost was only around half that amount.Other firms will find themselves in much better shape. Small poker operators are likely to owe very little, and those who did not market themselves in Spain may ultimately owe nothing at all.The Spanish government should begin to granting licenses on June 1st. More than 60 different online poker operators have reportedly applied for licenses, though not all are guaranteed to receive approval in the first round of licensing.
