Nervous over digital gambling tax hit!

New online betting taxes risk blowing out the cost of punting and eroding millions of dollars in crucial funding to the racing industry if they are set too high, Victorian horse-racing officials warn.

Multiple Australian states have now moved to introduce a 15 per cent "point-of-consumption" tax, meaning that for the first time the state where an online bet is placed will receive revenue on gambler losses.

So far, the tax has come into force in South Australia, before it begins in Western Australia next month, and then Queensland. Victoria and New South Wales are both expected to introduce similar taxes.

But concerns are swelling within the racing industry about the potentially damaging impact a tax could have on betting turnover if it is introduced at the 15 per cent rate in Victoria.

The companies to be hardest-hit by the tax are Australia's rapidly growing online corporate bookmakers, such as Sportsbet, CrownBet, Ladbrokes and William Hill, who are licensed in the lower-tax Northern Territory.

Racing Victoria chief financial officer Aaron Morrison said the state racing industry had become heavily reliant on funding from online wagering operators, including lucrative sponsorships and the "race-field fees" they pay for the use of racing information.

To read the full article written by Nick Toscano in the Sydney Morning Herald click on this link.