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The first female President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, looks to raise money by taxing that Central American nation's expansive online gambling business. Most of the North American facing online betting businesses, both poker and sports betting, originate in Costa Rica, often referred to as "The Switzerland of Central America".
With crime on the rise, Chinchilla hopes to boost the police force and education sector. In order to do this, she will need to impose the new taxes, according to the Economist.
By doing so, her officials hope to bring in an extra 1% of GDP.
Throughout the nearly 15 years that online gambling establishments have operated from Costa Rica (most of the early businesses set up shop in 1996), taxation has routinely been brought up without much success. Most online gambling companies oppose such taxation.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
