It's common knowledge that all wagers placed with the TAB are taxed by the Government. Depending on which TAB you place your bets with, the tax can be between 14% and 15%. Now doesn't that seem extreme? That's what we all like to think. But is it what other punters overseas have to deal with?

In Malaysia the Government tax imposed is 17.2%. That may not seem a great deal higher than in Australia, but the Racing Clubs also take a percentage of the wagers. The percentage taken by the Racing Clubs is currently 9.3%, that makes a total of 26.5% of all wagers being taxed one way or another. We find it hard enough trying to make a profit out of the TAB when we only have access to about 86% of the wagers for our dividends. Just think about the Malaysian punters trying to make a profit when they only have access to 73.5% of the wagers for their dividends.

Things could be a lot worse for us. This is just one example of how the odds can be staked against the average punter.