Spanish Tax Authorities Takes Over Idea from Swedish Colleagues

Spanish taxman seems to have liked the idea of its Swedish counterpart – to use poker information sites to track down high-earning players and tax them, so they have used a popular public database of live tournament results to monitor the earnings of at least three top players. Through the site, they were able to find out not only extensive information on tournament results and earnings, but also player rankings, record-breaking earnings and competition results going back almost four decades, sorted by nation and tournament. There's also another option that the local tax authorities and gambling regulator may use to reach new revenues: to order online poker sites falling under the authority of the Spanish regulator to provide information on individual players in the interests of compliance with the country's tax laws.