Grundzüge der Besteuerung von Sportwetten aus Sicht der Praxis

The German sport betting market has traditionally been subjected to a strict regulation. The legal framework valid until the end of 2011 is defined by a state treaty between the federal government and the 16 states (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag), which only allows the public company Oddset to operate legally. This state treaty is currently under revision and several options with different taxation models are discussed. The present paper offers a brief theoretical analysis of the models under debate and a first empirical outlook of their consequences on the gambling market, especially on the sport betting sector in Germany. Three models of sport betting taxation and their empirical outcomes are presented in detail.