GREEK casino gamblers who have won money and not paid taxes on their stash are being targeted by the Government. The country is trying to get itself in order after coming to terms with the country’s tax evasion epidemic. In a bid to put all wrongs right, the Greek government has set up a new police squad specifically designed to locate tax evaders and, well, make them pay. The squad is made up of postgraduates in finance, accounting or information technology.
One prosecutor has already launched an investigation into a number of criminal activities arising from Proton Bank. The prosecutor has the authority to legally obtain records of bank account personal details from those they believe to be tax evaders. The prosecutor also has the ability to look into online gaming activities and all stock market activity. Those accused of dodging payment on their taxes, no matter the reason, including on all online gambling winnings will have an investigation launched against them.
Another area which has been marked for closer examination is that of online gambling, with the head of the new squad Christos Papoutsis stating:
“The police estimates that the turnover for this is 5 billion euros a year and that the state misses out on 2 billion euros as a result. Greek banks are unwitting accomplices in this because all the transactions are done using credit cards.”
Set as one of the conditions for its economic bail-out, Greece is now determined to reduce the estimated €15 billion (£13.2bn) in missing taxes which fail to materialise each year for the government.
