A clerical error in the gambling tax bill approved last December initially removed online casinos from taxation this year. Earlier this month, Riigikogu members passed a new amendment fixing the issue, but it will not apply until March. 

The Ministry of Finance instead said remote companies affected could make donations to cover the tax they do not need to pay.

"As of today, four companies have transferred a donation directly to the Cultural Endowment and four companies to the account of the Ministry of Finance. It is roughly half and half, in total rounded to €497,000, or just under half a million euros. Income tax must be added to that: taking that into account, about €637,000 has been received," said Evelyn Liivamägi, Deputy Secretary General for Financial and Tax Policy at the Ministry of Finance.

Although eight companies donated, there are 41 remote gambling operators in Estonia. Of these, 14 belong to the Estonian Association of Gambling Operators, which proposed the possibility of donations in January after the legislative error came to light.

Had the law been in force, the state could have earned almost €2 million.

"Just over a quarter has been voluntarily donated. Life generally shows that everyone is much more enthusiastic about making promises than later fulfilling them. I did not expect donations to come in at the same level as the tax would have. All the more so because a significant portion of remote gambling tax revenue comes from foreign companies, and at present there is one foreign company among the donors, the rest are Estonian," Liivamägi said.

The official did not disclose which companies made donations.

Shortfall to become clear at year's end

Liivamägi said there is time until the end of the year to donate. The shortfall resulting from the absence of the tax will become clear by the end of the year.

"If things go as the initiators of the remote gambling tax reduction hope, then we should receive much more than the Ministry of Finance forecast. €2 million per month is an average from earlier, but that does not mean this year will go exactly the same way," she said.

The actual annual revenue of the Cultural Endowment, which relies on gambling tax income, and whether the result falls short of or exceeds what was planned, will also become clear at the end of the year.

"If the allocation to the Cultural Endowment is smaller, the government has signaled that the difference will be covered. Ultimately, that is a political decision," the deputy secretary general said.

Donation total known in March

As the law has now been corrected, remote gambling operators will pay tax at a rate of 5.5 percent from March. Donations are expected for the missing tax payments in both January and February.

"From a company's perspective, it would be logical for the donation to be made at the same time the tax would otherwise be paid. Those who wish to donate but have not yet done so still have time. By the end of March we will see how much in donations came in for January and February," Liivamägi said.

Even Tõnis Rüütel, director of the Estonian Association of Gambling Operators, does not know exactly which remote gambling operators will donate and which will not.

"I live in the understanding that all who are members of the association — there are 14 of them — will make a donation. No one has said they will not. It is a matter of reputation, and companies had already accounted for this tax in their bookkeeping," he said on Monday.

The amount should be based on the amount of tax owed, which is 5.5 percent of a remote gambling taxpayer's monthly net turnover, Rüütel added.

Liivamägi does not yet know how much was transferred.

"I do not yet have a comparison of how much of the amount received is related to previous tax amounts. I can send the data to the Tax and Customs Board, which can make the comparison, but I do not see that level of detail by individual taxpayer. Looking at how the donations are calculated down to the cent, I would assume they were calculated precisely on January revenue from which tax should have been paid," she said.

In the state budget, the Ministry of Finance assumed that €27 million in remote gambling tax could have been collected this year. In the first months, according to the ministry's estimate, revenue could have been €4 million had there been no error in the law.

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