Albania: Income tax implications following changes to gambling laws

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Albania: Income tax implications following changes to gambling laws

Sponsored by

Eurofast Albania
intl-updates-small.jpg

The Albanian government approved a series of changes to gambling laws on October 25 2018, which are effective from January 1 2019. This will have wide-reaching effects considering the gambling industry is the second largest employer in Albania after the energy sector.

Sports betting and slot machines will be closed from December 31 2018, and will only be available online. The only gambling activities that will be allowed to continue operations will be gambling at casino resorts and large hotels in residential areas, playing bingo games on television, and the national lottery.

Furthermore, details regarding the suspension of the Albanian Gambling Supervisory Authority (GSA) has been published, due to its restructuring.

Most importantly, the new gambling law will affect income tax revenues as well as employment. The government considers these effects irrelevant when compared to the negative social effect of gambling and the high risks associated with money laundering.

The gambling industry's turnover in 2018 was around €130 million ($147.3 million), an amount which should be taken with a grain of salt as the GSA estimates that the declared income from this sector is less than a half, with the other part remaining unofficial. The effect in state income would be a decrease in the revenue from tax on gambling of around €40 million.

Sports betting has become an undisputable social phenomenon in recent years. It is estimated that Albania – a country of 2.8 million people – is currently home to more than 4,000 sports betting locations all over the republic. The spread of the gambling industry has caused concern about its impact on low-income families.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

E-invoicing is currently characterised by dynamism, with fragmentation acting as a key catalyst for increasing interoperability, says Aida Cavalera of the International Observatory on eInvoicing
Pillar two and the US tax system ‘could work in harmony’, Scott Levine tells ITR in an exclusive interview to mark his arrival at Baker McKenzie
Peter White, who has a tax debt of A$2 million, has been banned for five years from seeking registration with Australia’s Tax Practitioners Board (TPB)
Wopke Hoekstra’s comments followed US measures aimed against ‘unfair foreign taxes’; in other news, Grant Thornton and Holland & Knight made key tax partner hires
An Administrative Review Tribunal ruling last month in Australia v Alcoa represents a 'concerning trend' for the tax authority, one expert tells ITR
A recent decision underlines that Indian courts are more willing to look beyond just legal compliance and examine whether foreign investment structures have real business substance
Following his Liberal Party’s election victory, one source expects Mark Carney to follow the international consensus on pillar two, as experts assess the new administration
A German economics professor was reportedly ‘irritated’ by how the Finnish ministry of finance used his data
Countries that care about the fair taxation of tech multinationals and equitable global distribution of wealth should back the UN’s tax framework, writes economist Abdelmalek Riad
The cuts disproportionately affected staff in certain positions, the report also found; in other news, MHA announced the €24m acquisition of Baker Tilly South East Europe
Gift this article