‘No-Deal Brexit’ is quite alive and the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is steadfast on leaving the European Union on October 31, 2019. No-Deal here refers to no agreement about separating from the EU – UK would overnight leave the EU and along with it denounce all the tariffs and checks that were premeditated to help trade flourish between the member countries.
The decision of the UK has dazed several countries, including Gibraltar. Once the UK exits the EU without any deal, Gibraltar would suffer economic loss. The government of Gibraltar expressed concerns over this matter, saying that there would be several economic complications along with shortages in medicine, food and fuel.
The local gambling sector of Gibraltar would be impacted highly because of the UK’s exit from the EU. Not only would the gambling sector suffer, but the economy of the British Overseas Territory would also be negatively impacted.
No-Deal Brexit would make a free passage for gambling industry workers’ impossible
Once no-deal Brexit is implemented the remote gambling licenses issued by the authority of Gibraltar would become useless to all the EU member states. Gibraltar is a part of British Overseas Territory and the European Court of Justice has already given a verdict on the status of Gibraltar two years back. They mentioned that a British Overseas Territory is just a part of the UK and Gibraltar will not be given any special status. Once the UK exits the EU, they will also be considered as a non-EU country. Gibraltar already has limited access to the Common Market of EU.
Gibraltar has been a thriving place for gambling. Because of it being a British Overseas Territory, the country has been in an advantageous position by getting all the benefits of being the part of EU.
They offer a corporate tax rate of 10%, which lures several wealthy businessmen from all over the world along with Britain and Spain to gamble in Gibraltar.
There are more than 10,000 Spanish that is employed in the gambling industry in Gibraltar. Most of the workers reside in La Linea de la Concepcion, Spain. The shuttle between their homes and work every day because they have a free passage to Gibraltar. Once the No-Deal Brexit is executed, the workers would no longer be able to travel to work in Gibraltar for free.
Spain’s City of Ceuta wants to exploit Gibraltar for business opportunities
Considering the uncertain future of No-Deal Brexit officials of Spain’s autonomous city of Ceuta showed interest in the gambling industries of Gibraltar. The Spanish authorities have revealed that they would offer better tax conditions to all the gambling operators that wish to enter the Spanish local gambling sector.
Spanish authorities have already announced that:
The corporate tax rate will be cut down to 12.5%
Remote gambling tax will be lowered from 25% to 20%.
The gambling tax rate in Ceuta is 10%.
After the tax cuts, many companies in Gibraltar are have already placed a request to the Spanish government for permission to run gambling companies in Spain.
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