Danish Taxation Laws Hurt Peter Eastgate

Although Peter Eastgate won just over $9 million in the World Series of Poker Main Event, he won’t even get to keep half as the Danish Taxation Laws make Eastgate turn over a large portion of his winnings. After the Danish government takes their cut, Eastgate will only have just under $3 million to show for his win.

The Danish Government has one of the highest taxes on casino winnings in the world taking forty five percent of the first $4 million won. After the forty five percent is taken out, the player is taxed seventy five percent on what is left. With Eastgate winning $9.1 million at the Main Event, he will walk away with less than a third of his winnings.

Eastgate knew of the possibility of losing a good portion of the winnings if he won the Main Event so he spent his time during the break of the WSOP trying to find a new home in London. It has not been reported whether Eastgate was successful in establishing a new home but it is believed that he will be forced to pay Denmark the percentage they require of winners.

The second place winner, Ivan Demidov, is from Russia and once he pays his taxes, $750,000, as Russia only requires 15% to be paid. He will have taken home $5.7 million which works out to be more than the winner if Eastgate has to pay the high tax amount.