- The Alabama Department of Revenue finally forced Greenetrack Inc. to pay over $76 million in taxes.
- Greenetrack will now be forced to pay the fine, because the Alabama Supreme Court ruled against them, exhausting their options.
- Getting Greenetrack to pay a fee may have been a win for lawmakers, but it really just showed the problems caused by restrictive gambling laws.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For-profit casino Greenetrack, Inc. has been found guilty of tax evasion and will be required to pay over $76 million in taxes, fees, and interest.
The Alabama Department of Revenue and Greenetrack, Inc. had been going on since at least 2017 but is now officially over.
Understanding The Ruling
Greenetrack now will be forced to pay over $76 million to the department of revenue, after avoiding doing so for years by simply appealing to higher courts.
The Alabama Supreme Court was the final court of appeals that Greenetrack could turn to. The Alabama Supreme Court conclusion read:
“Greenetrack’s status as a licensee under the racing act did not immunize it from taxes on unrelated business. On the Department’s unrebutted showing, Greenetrack’s bingo operations did not comply with Amendment No. 743. And Greenetrack failed to raise any genuine issue of material fact to challenge the amounts of the assessed taxes. We, therefore, reverse the summary judgment in favor of Greenetrack and render a judgment for the Department upholding the final assessments. “
Amendment 743 in Alabama‘s Consitution covers bingo games and the nonprofit organizations that may operate them.
Greenetrack had effectively been paying off different nonprofits in order to hide under their tax exemption status in order to maximize profits.
It has been reported that those payoffs to nonprofits were less than three percent of Greenetrack’s net profits.
Alabama Gambling Laws Proving To Be Restrictive
With Greenetrack Inc. now facing quite a fine, it may be time to review the laws that they were trying to avoid.
Alabama legislators have banned state-sanctioned online lotteries, casinos, and sportsbooks, pushing all Alabamans to internationally operated options.
Similar to Greenetrack, many of the players do not report their earnings from those sites to the tax collectors. They go unpunished because it is outside of Alabama’s jurisdiction, but that could all change if Alabama lawmakers lift some of their online gambling restrictions.