Old betting tax questions

Total returns.

You were 1% better off paying it in advance

£100 at evens = £110 stake, £100 profit if paid in advance =£200
£110 at evens = £110 stake, £110 profit MINUS £22 tax =£198

It meant anything 1/10 or shorter you had to put in accas or you lost money even if it won.

^
What a stupid system. Thank God it's gone

I am fascinated why you asked this Milburn.  Now that Cameron is not selling the woodlands are you helping with new fundraising initiatives?

Lori,

Sadly I am just about old enough to have (slightly illegally) bet with the tax. My aged memory tells me the tax was 9% for some obscure reason, not 10%.

Was reduced from 10 to 9 Equimine. The actual tax+levy were less than those amounts. The bookmakers justified their "rounding" because they had to pay tax+levy on the tax paid on or, where tax wasn't paid on, they paid on the total stakes but deducted the tax only from returns which were obviously smaller.

When the tax was 10%

£99 win tax paid returned the same as £100 win without the tax, but if it lost you saved a pound.

The tax the bookie paid was 8% but the punter paid 10% so you made £2 for free every £100 you took.

happy profitable days.

The tax the bookie paid was 8% but the punter paid 10% so you made £2 for free every £100 you took.

Not really. If you took £100 + £10 tax on, you paid 8% of £110 = £8.80.

Did the 8% include levy?

Not really. If you took £100 + £10 tax on, you paid 8% of £110 = £8.80.

Did the 8% include levy?

Yes it was something like that you are right, its that long ago i'm strugglin to remember. I do remember the little blue book though, that had to be filled in at the end of every night.

It was 10% when I used to bet in shops, showing my age

Hated when they cut it from 10% to 9% (about 1996 IIRC ), not only were you still being ripped off by both the bookies and the government, you then had to do complex sums too

the levy part of the tax was only payable by bookies on horse racing bets taken iirc.it was pocketed on sports bets taken.

The Investor: What a stupid system. Thank God it's gone


When you think about it it's not that stupid, let's face it just about everything is taxed, and a rate of 10% is a drop in the ocean when compared to other taxes that we put up with like zombies, i.e. petrol which we pay tax on at around 250%, unbefookinglievable, and then even the tax paid gets taxed a further 20% value added tax! Then we have the extortionate Council Tax, many people's largest single monthly outgoing, especially pensioners, while councils hoard multi millions in investment opportunities to pay fat salaries and pensions.

Tbh I'm very surprised gambling isn't taxed in this country, they screw us in almost every other way you can think of.

surprised but happy

Trev T

You think gambling isnt taxed!!!   .....think again

the bets you make are ALL taxed to some degree - the govt makes millions and the bookies make millions - so just WHO is paying the tax!!

your tax is taken in the 'underround' on every bet you make

Trevh, the old system doesn't make sense. The way it's done currently is far better. The bookie pays it directly. Seeing as the current system allows for minuscule margins, its so much better for the consumer.

Gambling is tricky, because on the one hand, governments don't want people taken advantage of. On the other they enjoy massive tax payments from bookmakers / casino's.

The rules in place for casino games that require fixed margins are there to protect consumer, but also to protect the casino industry and taxes. If I tried to open a casino with games with a zero house edge, with a business model that makes money from services supplied to customers, like hotel, food & drink etc. It would never get passed the regulators.

Mark Coton deals with this topic briliantly in "Value Betting"

To surmise [from memory]: better to pay tax when bet is struck i.e. physchologically,
the punter is already beaten if they don't do so, as they don't believe they have value
[in the case of the smart mark]; OR a winner [in the mug's instance].

Haven't read that one, is it worthwhile ?

Tax in Ireland around 25-30 years ago was 20%,paid in advance and no choice whether to pay or not,this was got around by writing your stake to one tenth of its value ie £10 became a pound in a betting office you were known, bookmaker and customer were happy with this arrangement, the taxman maybe not but he was a bit too greedy in the first place

It was only 4% on course. But some bookies used to try to diddle you and charge more.
Once when I was about 15 I was short changed by a bookie and I stood near his pitch and told people not to bet with him, until eventually he caved in and paid me the extra 15 pence or so that he had tried to diddle me out of.

By: This user is offline. getting better
Date Joined: 28 Aug 01 Add contact | Send message When: 19 Feb 11 00:25

Once when I was about 15 I was short changed by a bookie and I stood near his pitch and told people not to bet with him, until eventually he caved in and paid me the extra 15 pence or so that he had tried to diddle me out of.


That never happened did it? You lied to make us like you.

Yes it did I swear. I am not sure about the 15 pence but it was about that.
Actualy most of the bookies on course as today were quite nice but there were a few who were a bit dodgy.
Another time when I was in my late teens I got involved in a much more serious argument, where there was a big row between a bookie and a punter about a payout at a point to point. A huge man with a big red face was getting very angry and I thought that there was about to be some violence.
I tried to intervene to calm the situation, and offered to get the Steward to resolve it, and the huge man said to me "Shut your face, I am the bloody Steward".

Rocket to the FACE Joined: 28 Oct 08
Replies: 9265 18 Feb 11 23:45   


Haven't read that one, is it worthwhile ?

Yes, it is utterly outstanding.

You'll need to get a copy from eBay or Amazon though...