Bahamas Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar recently said it may take up to six weeks before casinos are certified to implement the government’s new 5 percent patron tax. Announced in May, the government said gaming patrons will pay a 5 percent stamp tax on deposits and any non-online games or digital sales.
D’Aguilar said, “The 5 percent tax really represents a change in the gaming business. Now when customers come to the window and give their money, 5 percent of that money has to be allocated to be remitted to the government. So that required gaming houses to change their point-of-sale platform. Anytime you seek to change the platform of a gaming business, the Gaming Board requires that the program be certified that it is the only change that you have being done and no other changes have been done to that program; and that the program is continuing to do what it stated that it was going to do in terms of payout, in terms of how money goes to people’s accounts, with the win ratio and so on and so forth.”
D’Aguilar added the casinos have hired Gaming Laboratories International to certify the changes. “They review the changes that have been made and certify that all is good and correct and that the program is doing what it is certified to do. And so, that’s what we’re waiting for the gaming houses to complete.”
When the controversial patron tax was announced, casino operators said their businesses would be harmed and jobs would be lost. FML Group of Companies Chief Executive Officer Craig Flowers said the new taxes would be a “death sentence” for casinos. However, he recently said it’s too soon to announce layoffs; he wants to determine how his customers react to deposit taxes.
The Bahamas government also announced a new sliding scale tax structure on gaming house revenues. The new system, which took effect on July 1, taxes casino revenue up to $20 million at 20 percent; revenue between $20 million and $40 million, 25 percent; revenue between $40 million and $60 million, 30 percent; revenue between $60 million and $80 million, 35 percent; revenue between $80 million and $100 million, 40 percent; and revenue of more than $100 million at 50 percent.
Government officials said a study will be conducted about the impact of the new tax structure on the gaming industry.
