Arbusers

There have been a couple of threads on this, but they are outdated.
Assuming we eventually earn from passive income also, the criteria needed are;
- Gambling legality, access to Bet365, and zero or low gambling tax
- If gambling tax is high - zero or low gift tax. Then if collaborating with a friend, the income can be classified as a gift from them, rather than gambling winnings.
- Low Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on equity.

The countries that I have researched are as follows.
Not all are confirmed as it is difficult to get official rulings in foreign languages.
Please correct where I have made a mistake

1. Cyprus
- Gambling is legal, 365 is available. Is it tax free?
- There is no gift tax
- There is no equity CGT

2. Portugal
- Gambling is legal, 365 is not available. Is is tax free, I think?
- Gift tax (stamp duty) is 10% on assets located in Portugal. Unsure if there is no tax on gifts from a foreigner?
- CGT is 28%

3. Spain
- Gambling is legal, 365 is available. Taxed between 19-45%.
- Gift tax about 10%
- CGT 20-24%
Apparently tax varies by region, if somebody has a resource showing regional taxes it would help.

4. Republic of Ireland
- Gambling is legal and tax free. 365 is available
- Gift tax is 33%
- Capital gains tax 33-41%. Unrealised gains may be taxed.

5. UK
- Gambling is legal and tax free. 365 is available
- Gift tax unsure
- Capital gains 10-20%, although £20k+ can be invested yearly tax free.

I would prefer not getting into details but I believe there are some countries emerging as gambling heavens in the EU.

Before anything else let me point out, the UK is no longer an EU member. In addition, it is not the gambling heaven we all knew for some 20 years now. Bonuses are very low, and limits come very quickly. I am not saying there is no money to be made, of course there is. All I am saying is life became harder for UK smart bettors. I have the recent example of a great UK bettor who moved to the UAE for taxation reasons.

Then I believe Spain and Italy are offering great chances, not only online but offline as well. I see tremendous value in the Italian and Spanish shops and online bookmakers. Spain has the taxation caveat which makes life harder, but anyone willing to succeed will succeed. In addition, both countries offer the great life of a mediterranean country.

Then there is another group of countries worth to explore for gambling reasons. These are Cyprus, Romania, and Portugal. There are good chances there provided that you know what you are doing.

I would add Malta to the list, however the place is really small and this will affect your business too.

I am not speaking about countries outside the EU, because there are good chances there too. Maybe our friend Campeones would add his expertise in this field.

Judging from what the OP is asking, I believe he is looking for a place to operate 100% legally. I m not in position to provide any advise because I have no details of the business plan. How is profit generated? Is it generated from 1 person or is it generated from several persons that needs to get paid too? Are these persons paid with a salary, or is it a one off payment? I am trying to make my questions in a way that wouldn't harm the forum if you know what I mean.
Are you looking to work in country X while your resources come from country Y? Or is all business conducted in the same country?

It is a problem with multiple tasks. Maybe we are talking about tax residency here?
And what do you mean ''passive income''. Every country measures and defines passive incomes differently.Passive income is a salary or rental money. I doubt you can include betting winnings as passive income.

campeones wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:34 am

Judging from what the OP is asking, I believe he is looking for a place to operate 100% legally. I m not in position to provide any advise because I have no details of the business plan. How is profit generated? Is it generated from 1 person or is it generated from several persons that needs to get paid too? Are these persons paid with a salary, or is it a one off payment? I am trying to make my questions in a way that wouldn't harm the forum if you know what I mean.
Are you looking to work in country X while your resources come from country Y? Or is all business conducted in the same country?

The answer to the question of “where would be the best locations to start a remote business which profit shares with locals betting with your proprietary signal” might be a little too much though, I assume.

regardless of your location, number 1 you have to be talented, you have to be able to "stand above the crowd" you simply have to have a flair for making money where others cannot and in arbers case it's against the bookmakers, you have to be stubborn, committed, be in control of your emotions, arbing is not for everyone, in my opinion a large % do not have what is required.

of course if they are reading and writing on an arber's forum then good chance they may have some or all of the attributes required but also some may think it's a lot easier than it actually is, especially nowadays (in the UK) but also to try and live in another country and be a success? I think you already have to be a very very good arber to even contemplate this.

arbusers wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:20 pm

I have the recent example of a great UK bettor who moved to the UAE for taxation reasons.

I imagine the taxation was in relation to his investments, as gambling itself is tax free in UK.

arbusers wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:20 pm

Spain has the taxation caveat which makes life harder, but anyone willing to succeed will succeed.

It's a huge caveat though. 45% on the higher end. So you have to make almost double what you make in a country that does not tax to have the same net profits, if you are a high earner.

arbusers wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:20 pm

Then there is another group of countries worth to explore for gambling reasons. These are Cyprus, Romania, and Portugal.

Do you know how gambling winnings are taxed in Cyprus and/or Portugal?

arbusers wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:40 am

It is a problem with multiple tasks. Maybe we are talking about tax residency here?
And what do you mean ''passive income''. Every country measures and defines passive incomes differently.Passive income is a salary or rental money. I doubt you can include betting winnings as passive income.

Yes tax residency. Passive income will be the capital gains and dividends from my equity investment (a diversified ETF).
And no, betting winnings would be included as betting winnings or a gift, as it would be generated from more than one person. A contract would be drawn up in advance, to define them in the most tax efficient way.


Campeones, good to hear from you.
I would live in country X and be a tax resident of it. I would not "work" anywhere - just earning from equity investments and gambling winnings.
Profit would be generated from 2 people at any one time - the other person would be paid with a one off payment.
As an aside, I only got to reading your thread "A gambling syndicate" recently - hugely interesting and I posted a couple of questions. I understand you stopped posting there as you were getting caught between members wanting less information shared against those who wanted more, but if you ever decided to post there again I for one would celebrate it

It is getting even more complicated.
No I don't know what the tax system is in Portugal and Cyprus.

Look, I can answer some of the questions and I can be of great help when it comes to the UK and a couple-3 more countries, but it is clear to me that you need the advise of an expert. Never the less if you are serious with it and your potential is big, I believe you should go for it.

freaked wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 19, 2022 10:32 am

5. UK
- Gambling is legal and tax free. 365 is available
- Gift tax unsure
- Capital gains 10-20%, although £20k+ can be invested yearly tax free.

in an 11 year arbing/value betting career in UK I made £1.4million, I never got as much as one question from the tax man about anything and that included spending almost £200k in one go on a holiday home, gift tax, capital gains tax and most importantly income tax, I did not pay one penny, it helps that the inland revenue in the UK are under staffed and also after bigger fish but in reality I believe I paid nothing because I owed nothing.....of course i write this as a UK citizen.

The model of the business is still not clear to me. But reading between the lines I can say something about the UK:
The owners of the syndicate are not obliged to pay any taxes but 3rd parties who conduct business with the syndicate (runners, any kind of assistants) are currying out a type of employment on behalf of the syndicate owners, and these people are liable for tax, and probably they need some kind of insurance too.
Still a runners business is so small that no taxman would pay attention, and of course the syndicate owners would not care, but in these business, you never know.

Very interesting thread with a lot of important information. Τaxation on betting always hides traps or at least that's how my accountants present it . That's why I'd like to hear some ideas about the issue I'm facing.I am a tax resident of a country (Greece) where betting agents are not allowed and I would like to find a solution so that I can present my winnings from betting as my normal income and not have any issue with the tax authorities. Ι know that cannot be done legally in Greece, that 's why I am looking for a solution within the EU where I could find a country where taxation will not be so high (ideal case) ,but the money (winnings)will be legal and I won't have the fear of government authorities for tax controls and I will be able to use them to buy a car, etc. as normal taxable income. Also if opening a company or something else could be a solution ? My basic problem is not the percentage
of the tax rate , whatever it is but finally find a solution because I've been looking for it for a long time, around 2 years and I can't find anything, I'm stuck. I want to thank personally @arbusers very much for the advice he gave me in private messages.

Cenamoli wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 06, 2023 5:02 am

Very interesting thread with a lot of important information. Τaxation on betting always hides traps or at least that's how my accountants present it . That's why I'd like to hear some ideas about the issue I'm facing.I am a tax resident of a country (Greece) where betting agents are not allowed and I would like to find a solution so that I can present my winnings from betting as my normal income and not have any issue with the tax authorities. Ι know that cannot be done legally in Greece, that 's why I am looking for a solution within the EU where I could find a country where taxation will not be so high (ideal case) ,but the money (winnings)will be legal and I won't have the fear of government authorities for tax controls and I will be able to use them to buy a car, etc. as normal taxable income. Also if opening a company or something else could be a solution ? My basic problem is not the percentage
of the tax rate , whatever it is but finally find a solution because I've been looking for it for a long time, around 2 years and I can't find anything, I'm stuck. I want to thank personally @arbusers very much for the advice he gave me in private messages.

First choice in your case would be Austria. Betting friendly environment, tax free.

it seems that Austria is betting friendly towards broker/agent users, although there is lobbying going on to change that (betting regulation).

Bulgaria possibly is also ok. Cenamoli is there a way to contact you off thread?

I am a UK gambler that moved to Isle of Man.

The UK landscape has changed horribly, I would not recommend it to anyone. Customers are now challenged as soon as you lose a few hundred pounds and your account will receive a monthly limit. How can you play value on those terms, your account can be finished for the month on the 1st day of each month.

If you prove to the bookmaker you are a winner with money to play with, the obvious conclusion is that your "affordability limit" is restored to maximum but your ability to bet has just been lost as trading will close you down. The UKGC has created a mechanism to keep UK bookmaker profits high whilst ensuring harmful customers cannot lose as much money - this is offset by the smart bettors that are now being blocked on the opposite side.

I would now not recommend the Isle of Man either. I would possibly recommend it to a UK person that was struggling, but it is probably positioned half way between UK now and UK 8 years ago.

What I have witnessed is that almost every single bookmaker that left the UK market in the last 2 years did not update their country list to include the Isle of Man. Isle of Man uses the UK postcode system but is not subject to the new UK Gambling Commission regulations and is not actually in the UK.

For a lot of sites Isle of Man customers had to state their country as United Kingdom. Most sites have not bothered to change their country list for a small island of 60,000 people, no matter how many times I have asked them all.

paul wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:39 am

it seems that Austria is betting friendly towards broker/agent users, although there is lobbying going on to change that (betting regulation).

Do you know anything more about the betting regulation that you are talking ? If it is going to happen soon? Because i have heard that EU pressures Austria to comply with the EU laws about betting licenses if i remember correct . Otherwise, it is a very good choice.

Bulgaria possibly is also ok. Cenamoli is there a way to contact you off thread?

I've search it for Bulgaria ( before 1-2 years )and had a grey zone for betting agents (not absolutely legal and not illegal same time) . I don;t know if something change . If there is any member from Bulgaria who actually knows it would be my great pleasure to answer.Μy friend @paul I think that this is not possible according to the rules of the forum (unfortunately) to give you any personal social or e-mail and I totally respect that . If you want anything else to ask me, feel free here .