Topic: Zimbabwe Votes and Backs 10% Tax on Sports Betting Winnings (Read 684 times)

They likely won't. Africans have laws that are not effective at all. I think this could be one of them. This is the reason Americans and countries in European are strict to the extent of telling gambling sites to obtain a licence in their country before they can make their citizens gamble on their site. But African countries are not like that. The 10% tax will only be effective on the gambling sites that are registered in Zimbabwe.

Tax on profits including those from gambling is a very common global practice. The main question is whether Zimbabweans will disclose their winnings on gambling platforms of other jurisdictions. It seems to me that this is not in the priorities of gamblers and most if not absolutely all of them will hide their winnings from the tax authorities. In order to collect taxes from gambling winnings it is necessary to build a system of interaction not only with local gambling platforms, but also with gambling platforms of other jurisdictions. It seems to me that we will not see such a system in Zimbabwe and everything will be bogged down in corruption as usual.

They’re likely looking at the bigger picture, expecting to benefit if they impose this tax.
But we don't need to panic yet since it’s just a proposal, there’s no guarantee it will be signed into law. Even if it is, they’ll probably monitor whether it achieves their goals and could revise it over time if it doesn’t work as intended.

This uncertainty is likely what regulators fear most ;

I think they are just finding ways to get money, and maybe they have found out that the citizens they have are really into gambling. I hope they find ways to collect it properly and ensure that this citizen understands why they are doing it, and I hope that it is not used for corrupt practices.

It's pretty much similar to most of the countries and 10% rate is also very fair amount, I. Some countries they have tax ranging from 30 to 50% which is unacceptable. The Zimbabwe is not economically sound country so they are looking for ways to increase the revenue of their government considering all these facts I am not looking it absurd like most of the guys expressed in this thread.

Those who are addicted will continue with their gambling habit. Those who are new, as in seeking to find a way to earn money will get discouraged. It is a known fact taxation does create an opportunity for those who are smart. It does disrupt those who cannot enjoy this opportunity. Those who make money are those who have money, whereas it works the other way for those who seek gambling for earnings.


It is not desperation, it is an option to survive the hardship. While, I am not an individual promoting gambling, I still believe gambling is one of the options to enjoy your life without contacting your friends who are always ready to degrade you, as in yourself.

If the implemented tax doesn’t reduce the number of gamblers or their activities, the government will gain more income. But if it ends up discouraging people from gambling, then their revenue will decrease, and I’m sure they’ve done some studies before deciding to implement it.

As you mentioned, it’s a third-world country, and in such places, people are often desperate to make money even if it’s through gambling, which many see as a risky or “wrong” way.

Zimbabwe is a third world country and people have been using gambling as mean to become rich. But, If you practically think about it only a few win from gambling not all are lucky. This tax might be a way to stop people from getting poor through gambling and it's addiction. I don't agree with your point of view on government getting rich through 10 percent of winning amount. As, I said earlier only a few will win but a majority will lose.

Based on the website statement it is overall within the players wins so still the casinos are the one who are paying with the tax of 10%, now if the casino makes a change so the players will not win on the game its up to them but imagine if the player discover that they arent getting fair to their players still consider them as part of the lose of their summary of earnings. Actually that's quite low instead here in the Philippines afaik they are having a 30% tax to the casino just to operate here in the country.

It is definitely possible to say that this tax looks absolutely unfair and it is just a way for the state to get rich on the happiness of the winners. At the same time, the state does not care that people spend their money on casinos, no one returns 10 percent to them. If I were a gambler and betting enthusiast from Zimbabwe, I would simply play at those casinos that are associated with cryptocurrencies and which, unlike state casinos, do not transfer data on winners to the state.

This law will likely push gamblers to resort to illegal casinos, where the government won’t be able to track transactions, meaning gamblers won’t be forced to pay taxes on their winnings. IMO, this is a wrong move, taxing casinos should already be enough since they’re the ones really profiting.

If gamblers start shifting to illegal gambling, the government’s tax collection could actually be negativel affected.
They might realize this mistake sooner or later, but by then, it could be too late to undo the damage.

The main responsibility of the governments of any country is the development of its country. And for this they need money, which is why they make various laws to collect money from different platforms. However, the laws they are making for gambling will definitely discourage gamblers. Gamblers will be more affected by this law. In this regard, if the Zimbabwean government had taken a decision after observing the negative and positive aspects of  taxes, then it would have been better if it was not imposed on gamblers in particular, but rather tried to recover it through gambling platforms. Most of the gamblers lose, which is why if taxes are imposed, the losses will increase further, which can never be a good decision.

Why is it the government's business if their citizens are losing money in gambling? Although I also don't like taxes, 10% doesn't seem too much; it's up to 15% here, and it only applies for withdrawals above €100. What you've said doesn't make any sense. Governments want to make money out of an extremely profitable industry; what happens with the taxation money is something that I do not and can't know. If it's put to good use, I don't think it's too much of a problem. Gambling should be considered a privilege, a luxury; if you can afford risking your money, you can afford a small percentage of it going for taxation. I'm not implying that you should like it, but I personally find it reasonable.

Our loss is not their obligation anymore and if they will have a repayment for it, then it is like we are unstoppable, which is weird. I wouldn't use that as an excuse to evade my responsibility of paying taxes. Apart from using a DEX, what about using a non-custodial wallet? Anyway, not all can afford a 30 percent of tax at most occasions, so yeah, maybe they need to introduce a lower one for those lesser fortunate individuals.

I think most of those who withdrew are winners, especially in gambling, as it is slight different from trading where skills can matter the most. There are also those who withdraw but still down or only breakeven, so 30 percent tax will still be a bit painful for them.

Nothing new on here on which you will really be that definitely seeing government stance on the moment that they've seen something on which they can be able to implement something. Why would be having such scare when the time comes that taxation do happens? Pretty sure that this is seen to be coming specially to those who arent that still taxed industries on which if the government could be able to determine out that it is already that growing then its normal that they will really be taking up some steps that they will really be trying out to benefit into it on which this is indeed on what we are really that somewhat not getting not shocked about government stance when it comes to this manner. Come to think that taxes isnt that bad as long its been used and handled out on the right way.

For the sake of economic development then i dont really see this to be bad. Yes, this might affect out someones mood specially into its owners but we do know on how taxes do works. If those other countries had set out taxes into this industry and having that good economic standing, then why wont the be doing on the same thing? 10% isnt really that too big in comparing to 20% of others. lol. Lets just accept the fact that this thing is inevitable on which we might not be getting taxed by now but sooner or later on which chances could really be that seen and this is something that you do really need up to accept.

Honestly the whole tax system is shit. All countries aren't the same, but in general, the Government is trying to get it all. Almost feels like people should go to work and hand them your check, or not even be paid cause they're taking most of it anyways.

If I had a vote, I would have to agree to 10% as it's way better than what the tax is where I live, but I disagree with it all.

A similar law has already been implemented in other countries like the USA, where the rate is even higher than 10%, and gamblers have no choice but to follow it. However, I believe there’s always a way to avoid paying it, especially since it’s not a tax directly withheld by casinos or sportsbooks.

In Zimbabwe, I’m pretty sure the implementation won’t be perfect. If gamblers want to avoid paying, the best option might be to use sportsbooks that aren’t regulated by the government. That way, the authorities won’t know whether we’re winning or not.

I don't know how Zimbabwean citizens will react to such a law, but if you ask me, it's not really right and proper.
 
Gamblers place bets every single day, and they lose money in almost all their bets, and when they manage to win a little bet, which, if you check very well, out of all that they have wagered in the past, that winning can't amount to it, yet the government will want them to report such winning and remit some percentage of that amount to them as tax.
 
This is just daylight robbery when they can tax the gambling industry themselves for each money spent on their platform by their citizens and leave those gamblers out of this because this money will still, in one way or the other, come back to their economy.

I even agree that it would be fair if this charge were applied only when the person is going to make a withdrawal.

At this point, the casino must calculate everything the player has already invested (put money into the platform) and how much he is withdrawing...

So, the tax should only be paid on the profit in this operation and never on an isolated gain in a single bet... that is really unfair.

If it were done this way, I think the tax would be very fair.

Another way would be to charge a fixed tax on all and any money that is deposited into the platform. But then, no more tax should be charged during the bets (whether winning or losing) or even during the withdrawal, since it was already charged at the source.

Most gamblers lose on long term and the few lucky winners who manage to make decent profit at some point have to pay taxes to the government. Curiously, if you are immersed in poverty and misery without a job or income for your survival, the government does nothing, but as soon as you manage to have some financial success in life, there comes the government hungry for taxation. It's not fair and it's not legit in my opinion, but the government owns us in the end...

What we agree or disagree doesn't mean anything for the government. They enforce the laws and rules through judiciary system, which is highly rewarded financially by this same government to persecute common citizens through taxation.

The example of Zimbabwe is actually not that bad. There are countries setting much superior taxation percentages.

This is where they are getting it wrongly because they don't value their citizens. But wait a moment, does this applies to all crypto casinos or only landbase casinos?
Sometimes decentralized casinos could help in the country where their government impose law. I mean a web3 casinos were the gambling operators do not ask for kyc as I believe through kyc government knows or monitor the numbers of people who interact or signed up through that platform (I could be wrong or right).
Anyway, a country like Zimbabwe where their currency is extremely poor aren't meant to be too hash on their citizens as I believe that is extortion to the highest level.

10% tax is way too much for trying to help people overcome the problems of gambling, one of the highest corrupt government sectors is the financial sector where tax belongs, just as you have rightly said, government officials are full of fraud and most of time's, taxes never get to the right accounts, I have seen in some cases where tax officials generate their on tax receipts and issue it to collect tax, all that money is diverted into their pocket, so when it comes to collecting taxes to solve a problem as critical as gambling problems, that means the solution is quite far from reaching and we have to face the reality of the day, which is government officials using any possible means to scam, siphon and embezzling public fund's.

The fact that the government will charge a 10% tax on winnings is understandable to me, but will the amount that the player lost earlier be added to the final calculation? After all, it may happen that a player has lost $200 and then won $100, and how will taxation be conducted in this case?

I think the government sees the problems that gambling is creating and is doing what they can to raise funds to deal with those problems.  The overall idea is an honorable one.  However, the problem lies in that same government being full of fraud and waste, so none of the money they raise will actually go towards fixing anything.  They'll just keep lining their pockets and begging people like MrBeast to help them.  Unfortunately, as evidenced from MrBeast's African helper that was murdered last Monday for her car (I believe that's the rumor), sometimes just giving people handouts can go bad, and it usually does.  The governments in Africa really need to get it together.  They can't cry poverty and unfairness forever.

They are carried away with the rising popularity of sports betting and gambling entirely and instead of creating regulations for the gambling sector in Zimbabwe, they are shifting focus only on sports betting winning alone, most of them making such laws don't even know what betting is all about and how hard it is to predict the games, the only time and thing that get the attention of the government is a few winning that comes in form of the jackpot, like last time two guys won sports bets to the tune of 160 millions of my local currency, winning like this can catch the attention of government officials thinking that such winnings are frequent and easily achieve.

The tone may know how every country always has a large tariff for gambling activities that is not a strange thing in the ear, this is because gambling is an easy activity and with a large financial circulation as well as a big impact on the community, especially those who have losses, perhaps Here the government takes part of the advantage of development through tax for community infrastructure, actually a lot if we talk about the flow of funds where, but maybe what makes you upset is why it is done for gamblers whose victory is even rare, this is a way for the government can get income from gamblers' activities for the benefit of the country.

Gambling is not good for poor people and can never be a good thing. Taxes on gambling is not a means of oppression for the poor by the lawmakers. However, it is only natural and from experience that where other indicators that could improve the financial well being of these poor people who live on less than a dollar a day are missing, they will turn to gambling a means to generate income for themselves. On this premise, my inference is while taxation on gambling winnings is good, the government and lawmakers should not neglect other key areas for human capital development.

It's tax directly on the winnings, no matter what taxes you pay or how much you have won, winnings are taxed at the source, the bookie.


Sorry, but people struggling in poverty should be the last ones to gamble, let's not act like this is something meant to oppress the masses, every Western country has some form of taxation on gambling and everyone here asks for limiting gambling and gambling adds, saying that in Africa gambling is magically good for poor people is just wrong.
Seriously, I see a tax on gambling wins the last thing the poor should strat protesting against.

That's about right, i know i have read in the news about hyperinflation in Zimbabwe and how corrupt and clueless their government is, but i have not spent any of my time digging deeper into it. Like i said, if tax is put to good use, then it is a good thing, but on the backdrop of what you have just said, i believe you are right, the tax will simply find its way into the pockets of politicians, so the gamblers over there have every reason to feel hard done by.

Honestly, I don’t get what’s going on in the heads of government leaders when they decide to tax sports betting winnings. I mean, most of us aren’t even winning regularly, and when we do get lucky, they still want a cut? And 10% is no joke, especially for big winnings. Is this their way of discouraging gambling, or are they just trying to squeeze more out of us because they’re not content with the revenue they’re already raking in from income taxes and sportsbook operators? Feels like a double whammy either way!

The 10% Tax is really much if we consider the aspect that those gamblers also ends up losing a lot of money if they lose their bet. Since it was just a new law being passed, they would have started with as low as 1-2% but the stated 10% is too much and can make a lot of gamblers to rather focus on crypto online casinos or bookies.

The government don't seem to care about the losses of the bettors, they only want to reap from the lucky winningwinning but what they don't know too is that they will cause lots of these educated gamblers to evade the tax but looking for an alternative.

Here in our country, there has been some adjustments with taxation with the gambling industry. It's not directing the winners but the casinos themselves with huge taxation. That's why many operates here as local casinos bu with the online gambling industry, despite being regulated, many of them can't be chased by our government.

Taxing bettors on gross winnings instead of their net winnings is pure exploitation.  Instead of this type of approach, they would have taxed every credit received from gambling into their bank accounts, so that it would be that gamblers are being taxed from their net profits which is withdrawals. Maybe the government wants to discourage their citizens from gambling as that is the ontly justification for such harsh taxation.

Well,.perhaps you should have some economical and societal contexts about Zimbabwe as a country then. They are economically reckless, some years ago they allowed their currency to spiral into an endless pit of inflation which forced their central back to print banknotes of one trillion Zimbabwe dollars or so, which was enough to buy about a loaf of bread and things alike. They are not fiscally responsible and last time I checked their democratic institutions are weak and their society is pretty much intolerant with the LGBTQ community among their own population, it is basically a backwards country.
So I am afraid an important percentage of those Tara being impaled on winning gamblers are going to end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians and corrupt administrators of the central bank of the country.
I wish to be wrong, but all corrupt countries work about the same, sadly including mine where the governments is run by literal crooks.

Ah, I see. Finding the right term could indeed be difficult.

With my limited vocabulary, the closest term I could think of for gambling platforms you mentioned "on national level" would be fully-regulated local gambling platform/casino 🤔

As for gambling platforms like rollbit, roobet, and similar others. I typically just call them off-shore gambling platforms -- you'll know it if they have licenses from curacao, anjouan, etc.

Lmk what you all think, or perhaps, others have better suggestion/s which I would very much welcome.

While the idea of taxing gambling earnings is not new, Zimbabwe is jumping on without a plan or scale. "We want a piece of your pie, but we won't help you if the crust burns" is essentially what they're saying. Imagine a booming market that has only just begun to take off, and then it gets hit with a 10% hit to its gross wins? Who is to say that it won't result in deceitful tax avoidance or underreporting? People are cunning; they want to hold on to their money when they can, especially during bad streaks when there's no way to recover. Instead of taking the real risk, why not just go to an offshore site that doesn't pay any taxes to Zimbabwe? They may have managed to outsmart themselves in this situation.

I do not have a problem with taxes, if the government is using taxpayers money right, then that is fine, i am not from Zimbabwe, neither do i live there, so i do not know what the situation of things are there. The government have decided and there is nothing their citizens can do, you can try to evade it, but take note that it is a crime and it is punishable by law, nobody likes to pay taxes, but we have to and it is necessary.

I do not think it will affect the bettor.  Gambler will still gamble even if the government impose high taxes, remember these gamblers are ready to take a risk and even ready to lose the money so I many of them won't mind to pay tax for winning.


Many would evade the taxes if it has to be filed manually but they won't if it is deducted automatically when claiming the pot money.  About the fairness of the system, I do not mind since I think it is fine to tax gambling activities as long as the annual profit percentage is positive.


Well, we already know that the government love to tax profiting activities even thought the government don't have a repayment package for gambling losses, they have social welfare support that helps the people in need.

Well I doubt that the idea is actually trying to condition them into stoping or even gambling responsibly because if that was the target they are lots of policy that they would or could implement that wouldn't require taxing and would still prove to be very effective and efficient. I think it's rather for their own profit purpose because thats what the government always does because taxing people off their gambling habits is something that's crazy of an idea because not everyone gains profit even when gambling and then when you win, you get to pay tax on your wins? It's not cool at all.

It depends on whether that 10% is added on top of a normal income tax. In many countries gambling is considered income, so if the income tax is 25%, you'll pay that. If Zimbabwe had no gambling tax at all and you had 0% from your gambling wins, 10% is what I call a fair tax, if there can even be a fair one. Especially that I'm used to paying 20% regardless of the source of income.

If that 10% is on top of the normal tax which can be up to 30%, meaning gamblers pay 10% and then income tax, that's pretty abusive.

Yes taxes can not be avoided when a country that you are residing tries decided to implement it. Buy people can still boycott it if that's necessary especially in a case where the tax is too high for gamblers to pay. Just imagine paying taxes on every win you had without emphasizing on those loses you have made in the pass. This should be a gross wins, substrating the loses you had from it to know your overall winnings. This is how it is meant to be done nit trying to get a tax for every single winning without emphasizing on those loses that has been incurred for days or weeks before the big win. Zimbabwe as a country does not have what it takes to carry out this kind of taxing system.

They want to look like they are acting like develop countries, for example in US your gambling profit can be tax upto 24% as a citizen and this is compulsory, this is actually understandable since it's a country that has everything you need as a citizen, you get basic necessity and also health care but place like Zimbabwe where people struggle to get 3 square meal is not morally justify, it's either the government is trying to reduce gambling or eradicate gambling completely.

If the country is standard and there are good benefits of been a Zimbabwe, this is when I think the government can impose tax on things. Even the developed countries are trying to reduce tax for their citizens because the economy is very hard on everyone now and this one's are trying to put rope on gamblers neck for 10% tax. If they remove 10% tax from their winnings, how much is going to be left, this is cheating.

The government will always seek diverse means to fund its budgets. And in most cases they result in taxing the poor masses. This move might increase the government revenue from gambling. But it will also give rise to illegal betting platforms since gamblers will want to patronize them to invade tax. Possibly there might be an increase in the use of foreign online and crypto sports betting companies.


Nobody wants to pay higher taxes regardless of how easily the profit comes. Zimbabwean gamblers will see it as an attack and will sell for ways to invade this tax.


It's clear injustice. Sports bettors should be allowed to deduct their losses from wins and the balance should be taxed. The government should know that these people have lost for a long time before they get a win.

I understand that most people don't want to give part of their profits to the state. Nevertheless, I believe that the Government of Zimbabwe has made the right decision, because in a civilized society everyone has to pay taxes. And in this case, there can be no difference whether you get this income from gambling or from selling mangoes.

I don't know if the vote made was in their own favour or that of the gamblers, because from what we heard, they are only going ot take a 1o percentage of tax on every winning bets in sports, but what if the gamblers are not winning but gambling more often, secondly, are the gambling platforms going to be subjected to remitting the payment on his to the government only on those winning and the government are going to take charge by themselves, because it is not easy to have an accurate numbers of gamblers betting and those winning their bets.

Some African countries aren't smart when it comes to decision and where to tax their citizens, they don't hesitate to do it fast, as long as it generates money, they are in for it 100%. I don't think in the whole Africa there is any country that gamble like Nigerians especially the sport betting and this is as a result of lack of jobs and the jobs around salaries aren't sufficient, this is why we have plenty of gamblers but the government is been careful about gambling tax.

You can't just wake up and says you want to tax everything when you are not providing the basic resources . It was the same Zimbabwe that was fighting hyper inflation with their currency littered on the streets some years ago and yet this is where they are going. I wish the gamblers successful winning in their gambling journey but I know that after this news, many people wouldn't use the national gambling platforms again, they will resort to platforms where governments can keep tract of their gambling activities.

If the tax is imposed, only the government will benefit, which may increase the pressure on ordinary gamblers. On the one hand, the uncertainty of winning and on the other hand, paying taxes to the government from the profits will discourage them to some extent. As a result of the imposition of taxes, many gamblers will try to gamble on such platforms that governments cannot tax them. As a result, the negative impact of gambling will spread. If the public of Zimbabwe wants to impose taxes according to their wishes, that is their own business. If governments around the world have such policies regarding gambling, most of the public will want to oppose it.

Some governments taxes it residence gamblers so as to inflate them to quit gambling or to gambling responsibly if only the gamblers would look up to what they are liable to achieve or loses at the long run of gambling.
Those who profits would either pay the taxes and keep playing while the looser that could not pay the taxes should be inspired to quit since they have been unable to make profits.
But it literally doesn't seem right because obviously the governments are just earning where they didn't invest by taxing hard labouring gamblers.

OMG!

They have put the taxes in the same way as they were implemented in Spain on 1 July 2012, if I remember correctly. By 2013 they had already had to change it. As it was a tax on the gross amount, many people were left with debts despite having losses or little profit.

I translate the headline of a news item on the subject:

Tax authorities go after gamblers: round of fines for online gamblers even if they lose money

Taxes cannot be avoided, maybe this is unfair to gamblers, it seems they are very cunning, where the government does not want to know how many losses we have received before winning, the government only thinks about winning, hoping that taxes like this will be reviewed so that they do not burden the existing community.

It is actually frowning to learn that governments taxes gamblers on each winning and does not care how much they loses before being lucky to secure a win. It really annoys most as the governments does benefits from the taxations on gambling but could not create regulations that would intercede for bettors when they are being outshined by the gambling sites.

I think this new development of Zimbabwe could be instigated as a result of the country was reportedly having to increase their economy revenue to 8.5% that is being cumulate by the rate of gambling  but to me, it is not enough reason to this tax development because Zimbabwe economy rate is not so standard enough yet to delegate gamblers on taxes

One thing I realized after the new cockpit was built near our place. Gamblers will still keep on gambling even if the government puts a tax on it. Yeah, I heard the cries of the patrons of the cockpit and yet they still kept on going back there even if they knew how much money was getting away from the tax that was input by the government to the winners too. Yeah, same as Zimbabwe.
But they might also want to put some tax on the platform itself because they will make profits out of the losses of the gamblers and they must share some of that with the government.
Now, if this goes successfully, they could implement new rules like tax returns, especially for gamblers who are betting high amounts and those who gamble almost every day.

I personally think that taxing gambling profit, whether it's 10% or 20%, is wrong. It's unfair because no one one gives us anything back when we lose. So, if I've lost $100 to sports betting and then won $100 I should pay a tax? It's absurd, because my "profit" is actually zero. Should they tax my winnings if during a year I've earned $1,000 through sports betting is a different question totally. I don't know. But what I know is that taxing every win is nonsense.

I don't know the right word to use for the casinos that function on a national level, those that are allowed by the government, in other words. For instance, in Greece we have Stoiximan, Novibet, and many others. Those have all your personal details and automatically deduct taxes for any earnings you withdraw above €100. I'm not sure what to call them, which is the reason why centralized probably wasn't the right word. For instance, Roobet, Rollbit, Stake, and many other cryptocurrency casinos are blocked in Greece because they supposedly do not have a license and are put on a blacklist. In reality, they don't have any authority over them, thus can't earn money from taxes; they're trying to contain the gambling community to the available "national" options.

If the government imposes a tax on gambling winnings from gamblers, it is definitely a negative aspect. If gamblers have to pay 20 percent tax on their winnings, then it is definitely a negative aspect for that gambler. If the government had taken some measures like managing the loan service on the rate where the tax is imposed on winnings, then I think it would have been able to bring some relief to gamblers. A gambler may have a big loss behind a big win, but if the government takes 20% of that big win, then the gambler is not in profit. I think if a tax is imposed, it should not be more than 5%. Moreover, the tax should not be imposed on gamblers but on gambling platforms so that they can get regular revenue.

From the article it's obvious the Zimbabwean government is only scouting for a avenue through which they can prop up revenue to support their budget expenditure since Zimbabwe is one country in Africa that seems to be struggling economically with a debased currency as a result of bad policies.

With a critical look on the proposed tax on sports bet winnings, the approach by the country's finance minister obviously indicates that they only care more on what they can profit from this move with less or no concerns about the impact of gambling on its citizens.

Nop, I don't think this initiative by the government will be anything that the gambling population is going to embrace with both arms but truthfully there's nothing they can do about it, except that they have to quit gambling due to this but it not possible either that they will all quit. About evading the gambling tax,  if there's a way on that, then many won't hesitate to.

tax that are just centered at extorting money from any known is is definitely not to the best interest of the people. When you tax on wins and don't consider that it takes a lot of losses before you can get a win, it becomes really selfish to some extent. It's best that casino and sports betting platforms be taxed since for the most part, they are the ones that are on a higher winning side,.taxing 10% or above on normal gamblers who aren't even doing the gambling as a job but only does it for fun while getting to win some few funds doesn't make much sense.

Generating income and revenue by taxing different sectors is good but failure to make use of the generated revenue  for the right cause is something that makes the process uninteresting.

It's much worse than that, they want to tax every bet you make, so you may find you've won $1K and they claim $10K in taxes.

The only way you will pay $100 on $1K won is if that $1K is won on a single bet. If you have placed many bets, where you first won $2K, then lost $500, then won $800 and then lost $1.3K, net you will have won $1K but from the four bets you will owe $280. The more bets you place to get that $1K the more you will owe the IRS.

Governments are looking for ways to generate income and they will explore any means to take from gains, but they will not consider loses. Gambling is designed for the gamblers to lose more than wins and taking part of the wins from them without considering the probabilities that they must've lost more than what they're winning is not really fair. But there's nothing that the gamblers and the gambling sites can do about it, they have to comply with the government regulations whether it flavors them or not. Poor countries should reduce the tax burdens on their citizens because most of them are poor.

The gambling population will see this for two things. One side will think that is a fair system and they want to pay the tax but in the other side, many of them will evade paying the tax. This is already happen in many countries which is agree and disagree with the tax. That will be worst if the government officials corrupt that tax money and will not use that for their countries so that is normal if those people act like that. They don't want to see the tax will not be used to grow their economy but will be used for the corrupt officials.

It is final tax? like if someone earn $10, they need to pay $1 and if they earn $1,000, they need to pay $100.

Unlike income tax where if someone earn $10, they high likely not pay any tax, while if they earn $1,000, they might need to pay $200, depends on the tax bracket.

The government is clever to tax 10% on sports betting winnings because they will get tax from small bettors, as we know there are many small gamblers, so the government will earn a lot by tax all the gambling winnings.

This is the main reason why many gamblers and traders hate to pay the taxes. In my country, there is a strict rule to pay 30% of the withdrawals as tax. No matter if you win or lose, if you made withdrawals at any exchange to your bank account, you are forced to pay the taxes. For this reason many gamblers and traders are using decentralized exchanges to cash out their money. If the tax was limited to 3-5%, then everyone would have shown support to pay the taxes, but anything above 10% is too much.

Lawmakers are out of touch with what the poor people are suffering in the country. So because there is a  significant growth in its betting industry, evidenced by the increasing number of sports betting establishments across the country that is why they are introducing a 10% withholding tax on growth winnings of sports betting- very ridiculous. Why are they not taxing the operators that are springing up everywhere in the country? Oh, I know why it is because these lawmakers are the ones operating these betting shops. Yes, they are running it. They are making money from it and instead of paying their taxes, they want to move that responsibility to the winner. Between the gambling operators and their customers, who makes more money? We all know who.

Isn't this already happening lot, some countries impose winning taxes on gamblers and there are lot of responses of dissatisfaction with tax provisions like this but until now everything is still running and there are also some gamblers who deliberately avoid.
Personally, if I lived there, I would definitely avoid winning taxes more because it is not comparable because the losses are much greater than the amount of winnings that can only be obtained occasionally in several betting sessions, if you think about state income then it will be very useful but if you talk about fair or not, it is clearly not fair policy.

i do not know the overall situation of zimbabwe when it comes to gambling so it is difficult to judge the new rules based on the current state of the gambling industry in zimbabwe is it a big thing there? is it generating a lot of profit for the people and the country? and more other questions
does anyone like paying tax? no especially one as high as 10% on the gross winnings so even if i have no complete picture of the gambling industry in zimbabwe i can tell that most gamblers will be angered by this and might even hide their winnings from the government

My problem with this 10% percent tax on gambling winnings places upon gamblers is how the government seems to be missing the fact Zimbabwe is a developing country with an very empoverished people, many of them probably gamble in order to get some money out their dispair, and yet they still put such a tax into law without the social and economical consequences it will have on gamblers in general.
Instead of taxing those who win money through gambling and betting, they should instead first focus to grow their country through other means, by creating jobs and opportunities, by the exploitation of their natural resources and perhaps bringing in some transnational companies willing to split the earnings of mining fairly with the government.
They cannot just expect all people of the country to support a functioning system through taxes, there most be other mechanisms of productions properly working, otherwise there will be no generation of wealth...

10% tax is too much not minding the amount generally government should tax base on the amount, tax has always been an issue and it’s considered the least when it comes to payment. How can gamblers fit in knowing the money used for wagering is not theirs (government) afterwards they partake in sharing. How’s the condition there to this extend or they no longer task the casino just bet winnings, the tax will still not regulate gambling activity and they’re not interested in regulating this activity just for taxing purpose IMO.

There are special cases that the winnings are tax-free so I think that there's a bracket to this law of Zimbabwe. Actually, this is a good development for them if they are ever doing it.

Because in most countries where gambling is a huge industry, they really have to max out the profits that the government might earn from them so as this.

In a country like them, they have to do it and I don't think that this will ever stop gamblers in gambling. This means a go-signal for most of them, and all they have to do is to pay them taxes.

Most cryptocurrency casinos are centralized too actually—there's a central authority. But as you said, they're under the radar and most of them are off-shore business hence there's a good chance a lot will be non-paying operators—from the sources, operators would be tasked to collect taxes.

TBH, I wouldn't blame players if they decided to go to a alternatives lol. Zimbabwe appears to want to make use of the money to fund their sports sector as well e.g. support players, build infrastructures, etc. which I think is a great idea but they should at least made friendly terms..

Should the players be taxed? Why aren't the casino or the betting sites taxed instead because literally this doesn't make sense.. for a gambler who wins in a whole streak and manages to win just one, they still get to remove the tax from it. No gambler would be happy after he lost to me the casino and still gets to pay some shitty taxes.. even if the government has no other ideas on how to generate revenue, why impose the tax on the player? It's would have been much better if the casino pays it instead and probably takes a little percentage from the gamblers..but not as taxes.. this might actually reduce the rate of gambling in some countries if Imposed.

Nobody likes taxes; I'm not surprised that they want to tax gambling; it's a huge industry, and I'm personally not against it if the money gained from this taxation goes to a good cause, such as improving health care. Certainly, no one likes paying, including myself, but this rule usually doesn't apply to us, since we're using cryptocurrency casinos, which up until now, operate under the radar. The centralized casinos will be subject to taxation; this perhaps will lead more users to using cryptocurrency casinos to avoid any repercussions but won't make this measure ineffective. People will always resort to using the centralized casinos as they're easier and more convenient to use.

Gambling is indeed a lucrative business, so if the owners know how to manage such business, they won't go bankrupt easily. It may need some good amount of bankroll, but if the operation will continue, they can really get good money out of it. So even if they will pay for taxes, winnings or not, they can still continue their business. So taxing such winnings will just give them more income.

Yeah to think the losses fund in gambling can be way more than the winning gains. How they even set to know the limit or boundaries within? Does it mean they gain access to gambling site data for that? If that so use the info to quantify a user's losses too to consider before doing a taxation on a gamblers winning case.

There is really huge money coming in with gambling and that's why aside from the operators, they have to tax the winnings of the gamblers. That's fine, it is also found and happening in almost every country that do gamble and there's an automatic slash of tax from the proceeds that the gambling winners get. But there should be a clause that there should be minimum amount and the maximum amount and so, some incentives that if a winner has paid so much, there should be a tax cut.

That seems fair, very fair even. Having to put both ends of the results into consideration and only having to apply at the end of the year.
My question for thought is,
What becomes the case if this money is no longer available. I mean in instances where the gambler might not have to lose this money in some other gambling activities but happens to have used it in sorting out some everyday expenses. Does it count for a minus and waits on you or there are measures the government put in place to check this.

Well I suppose thats the correct way of settling a tax liability although I am not
a fan of paying taxes, I have paid my share over the years. Luckily here proceeds
from gambling are tax free ^{for the moment}

I'm also a little worried that its only a matter of time before either or both taxes
will be more wide spread or percentages increased.


I doubt there are many who would want to pay taxes on Gambling profits

Sounds like a good system to me. I mean it's probably either this or bans in most cases. And I've always said, trying to control it instead of banning it is 100% better since you can keep your eyes on where it actually is, unlike when its trying to hide because of the ban. This also might dissuade gamblers from actually gambling? Might is the keyword though. I'd like them to add a few say minimum requirements to it I guess? For example, only after a certain amount is wagered or a specific bet won exceeds a set amount. Maybe even tally in losses as part of it?

As for what a gambler would think about it, well anything that gets a cut from their winnings definitely doesn't look fair.

This is government we are talking about, all they can do is to tax any centralized institution as well as the people in as much as they are falling under their regulations, they are not after the affordability of the people involved, but they want to always have an additional source to revenue generation, once it has been enacted, then the people have no choice than to embrace what their government are putting down for them regarding gambling.


As a matter of fact, some will pay, some will evade it as well, we are going to have a mixed reaction towards this, and there is nothing the government can do to help the situation out since they are the major cause of it than to accept it the way it comes.

I guess it would like those that are winning more than losing. Like if you have $200 losses and later won $100, no tax because you still have $100 loss. Even you will still need to recover the remaining $100 before you can pay the tax. This is how gambling tax has been. Or is it not like that? Most people will not be paying unless they won huge amount of money.

That's the point. It doesn't look like a fair system for all categories of gambling outcome, whether win or not, I think it should have to be uniform. You have some winning that is taxed on, that may not cause any uproar or anger but why must it be on winning.

There is also another form of taxing that they would have introduced to on the gambling population and that is operating taxing which means the casinos are those needed to be taxed as they are running it as investment and business.


I think they are serious about this and they are planning on initiating profit from it to finance budget. I don't think this is right for gamblers in the country because they are not as populous to other countries and they are already taxed 10%.
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In as much as it will not be excited development from gamblers on Zimbabwe but definitely it will not be a setback in terms of gambling patronage because the nature of people is that so long as they no that something can come out of it even if losing is also there they will be willing to patronize, so actually unless the people from Zimbabwe does not like gambling will they read meaning to the development if not it will not matter to them but however there government should have also consider if they wager and loss what will be their reward, though 10% is huge from calculation because if a gambler wins $5,000 they will have to pay the government a tax of $500 and is not much fair because of previous wager losses.

it's kind of similar in the Philippines but the difference is that they only put gambling tax winnings that are above Ten Thousand Philippine pesos, if it is lower than Ten Thousand they will not tax it, so I guess the Philippines are more lax with their gambling tax than this proposed gambling tax from Zimbabwe.

it's a bit excessive I think, I mean reading this part of the article I feel like it implies that they will tax winnings no matter how small it is.

I think thats not good to tax on gambling especially in crypto. Theres also losses in the process and not just win. Imagine they would tax you if you win so high but the losses incurred during the process is negligible. Who would love that? For sure every users in this country is against it and likely not to support. But if the law has been passed then they doesnt have much choice. But gamblers will always be gamblers probably will not stop even with an ammo like this.

I have nothing against taxes when you win as most countries implement that, even in US they have taxes of 15% for you if you are mining and when you withdraw money from this mining and you are in profit but what I don't understand is why the governments always taxes us for our winnings and they have never passed a law for example to give us back 10% of all of our lost money in the gambling, it should be a 2 way relationship yet this seems never to happen with any government and I think the same can be said about a poor country like Zimbabwe and in fact this rule is very difficult to implement in cryptocurrency casinos. The end user can always say that I did some job for some one as long as he withdraws to his crypto wallet and from them to some exchange which will send the end user money to his debit/credit card.

I don't think this will discourage gambling. Like you said the US tax more on gambling, yet that has not discouraged people from gambling. I don't also think the government's aim of imposing the taxes is to reduce gambling, I believe they just want a new revenue stream since they can see the amount of profit in the gambling sector. I believe they will even want more people to play and win because the more the winners the more money they'll get.
I don't think there's any gambler who will decide not to bet simply because the government will tax him.

It won't be fair on sports bettors of course because they might have had at least 10 losses before a win and now they have to take out 10% of the winning as taxes but when they lost the government or anybody didn't compensate them.

I don't like these taxation because there is no any update for players or gambling site.
Meanwhile these are ways the nations use for collecting money and paying services for people in the country.

Taxation and gambling are two "hard" arguments that have many issues hidden. I think that it is not easy at all have an idea on how to manage these taxation.
In my country (Italy) they tax win in some cases (it depends on amount).

I just hope this is something helpful for Zimbabwe people...

This is becoming ridiculous honestly, when gamblers lose will they also give them 10% of their losses? It would have been better for them to even ban gambling in those countries than making things become worst for gamblers. Gamblers are already going through a lot because before some people will record winnings, they must have lost a lot of money which their winning amount may not even cover up the one they have lost already so why imposing such tax on them again to make the situation become more difficult. Can't the tax they are collecting from casino owners and those running other gambling sites in the country be enough for them. The way some governments are even going about this taxation is really very awful.

African countries are waking up to tax regimes and various countries around the continent are making various tax reforms that focus more on virtual and online activities which gambling is part of such activities, while some countries like Nigeria focus more on taking taxes from the winnings and licensing fees.

This is actually insane that they would go with the gross winnings; that means they’ll be collecting more money on tax than they would if they had taxed the “net profit” instead.

If the aim of the government is to discourage gambling then it’s safe to say that they have done a pretty shitty job, because gamblers will just look for alternatives would enable them bypass this tax.


Even if it’s isn’t fair; the only thing that I think will happen is either “the population will get used to it and continue” or “look for a way to bypass paying tax for all their wins” no one wants a system that takes from their money each time they win whether the system is fair or not.

Won't they be able to deduct the losses in the year? from your quote, it can be interpreted that they will have to pay regardless the annual result, which is not fair.

In Spain we have to pay from 19% (if you win small money) to 47% (for winnings from 300k), but because you do it annually, if you won 10k and lost 9k through that year, for example, you only have to pay the taxes for the difference of 1k.

Zimbabwe has now joined the league of countries trying to make money on gambling through taxing winners. The government has made the tax regime to help support in the budget for the country. Just like countries like US, Germany etc, they have decided to tax on winning/profit and not operation without considering that gambling population is still growing which can be a discouragement.

To me it can be a draw back despite that the sporting events is getting patronage there but it is not like the US where gambling is already taken as investment and the gambling profit tax is about about 20% +


So what do you think about this new tax regime of gambling profit in Zimbabwe!

Do you think the gambling population would see it as a fair system or they would evade paying the tax?

More importantly, government introduce tax on gambling profit but they don't have repayment package for wager loses   hehehe

https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/zimbabwe-votes-and-backs-10-tax-on-sports-betting-winnings/