NSW residents missed out on an estimated $1 billion in tax revenue last financial year as a result of the gambling concession to registered clubs, a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.
State budget papers show that expenditure on the gambling tax concession was due to break through the billion barrier in 2022-23, and is predicted to increase again in 2023-24, more than a decade after the federal government’s top economic advisers warned there were “strong grounds” for it to be radically scaled back.The figures form the backdrop to the NSW government’s release last week of a discussion paper into the effectiveness of the ClubGrants scheme, which allows clubs to claim an additional tax break of up to 2.25 per cent for handing grants to community groups. NSW clubs pay 26.55 per cent tax on their gambling profits over $5 million and an incrementally lower rate on smaller profits. They do not pay any tax on gaming machine revenue up to $250,000. Hotels pay 33 per cent tax on gambling profits over $50,000 and 50 per cent tax on gambling revenue over $2.5 millio