bwin rejects profil allegations: all taxes have been paid correctly. bwin

The world’s leading online gaming provider bwin asserts that there is no basis for fiscal criminal proceedings. In so doing, bwin resolutely rejects allegations made in the current issue of the news magazine profil. bwin always pays its taxes correctly.

bwin points out that a company audit is being performed due to the oft-mentioned action taken by Omnia Communications Centers GmbH in 2007. The magazine Format reported on this in its issue of 15 February 2008. To date, Omnia has failed in all its bids against bwin.
The company audit has been underway for more than two years and has not been concluded to this day. Therefore, no up-to-date company audit report is available yet. There is thus no indication for any unpaid tax liability.

bwin was subject of a company audit between 1999 and 2001 already. This audit led to a final clarification of the sales/purchase tax issue and concluded that betting and gaming revenues are not liable to sales/purchase tax.

The company and its tax advisors as well as reputable sales/purchase tax experts take the view that there is no tax liability and bwin therefore assumes that there will be no claims for taxation.

The type of revenue is exempt from sales/purchase tax (as are games of chance, betting, electronic lotteries and poker). Exemption from sales/purchase tax has also been confirmed by the federal Specialised Department for Sales/Purchase Tax in the ongoing audit.

In terms of sales/purchase tax, a business establishment is defined as such solely based on ECJ case law on “fixed establishments”. This has also been stated as such by the financial administration in its guidelines for sales/purchase tax. The expert opinion drafted by the Perlogis firm and quoted by profil is therefore strongly inconsistent with the current legal situation.

In view of the facts given above, there can be no question of any violation of regulations under capital market law – as wrongly alleged by profil – or any accounting standards. bwin is therefore considering the option of taking legal action.