The Club Hotel Casino Loutraki has been shut down recently by the regulatory authorities, even though the casino triumphed against the government in a recent legal battle in the courts. This past Monday, the Greek Gambling Remission issued a statement to the Club Hotel Casino Loutraki to no longer conduct any business due to the fact that casino had failed to pay a total of $250 000 in taxes for gambling revenues earned.
The casino is obliged to pay a minimum of 35% tax on a daily basis based on all revenues earned during the course of that specific day. However, there have been no payments to the government for the whole month. Parapolitika, a local news agency in Greece, recently stated that the reason for the non-payment on behalf of the casino was that the casino has been waiting for the government to supply them with a $44 million tax rebate. The tax rebate is comprised of $36 million tax refund and interest accumulated.
Where All the Confusion Began
The tax refund was awarded to the casino last month by the Tripoli Administrative Court of Appeal, and the casino has been operating under the regard that they should not follow their normal routine of tax payments until the government paid them their rebate. However, this assumption was obviously incorrect according to Evangelos Karagrigorou who is the Chairman of the Gaming Commission in Greece.
And as he further went on to explain the ruling that the courts awarded to the casino, was not set in stone, it only became final two months after the ruling, and apparently, the government wants to appeal the outcome. When Evangelos Karagrigorou was accused of being the government’s force, he disagreed stating that the law states that if taxes are not paid, the no doors are open. Therefore, the casino will not be able to open until all monies are paid in full.
The high tax burden placed on the Club Hotel Casino Loutraki has been cited as one of the main reasons for why the casino was forced to temporarily shut down during 2015. Just a few months ago, in November 2017, a court forced all creditors of the casino to slash 40% off of all debts owed to them, and the casino was given an extended payment plan of 15 years to pay off all of their debts.
Greece is attempting to gain more traction with the casino market, by instituting more flexible measures into their legal framework, making the market more attractive to investors and by planning for a tender to be opened for the countries very first integrated resort.
