State gambling company Holland Casino will not pay out a dividend over last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company adds the entire profit of 67.6 million euros to equity. This is a calculated setback for Wopke Hoekstra, the company’s sole shareholder as Minister of Finance.

Companies in crisis

How much money the government would have received from Holland Casino is unknown. That had not yet been established, a spokesperson of the company said. Holland Casino is no exception. There are other companies that are in desperate need of the money because of the Corona crisis and do not pay dividends. They do so with the approval of the Ministry.

Comparison with 2018
If Holland Casino had paid out a dividend similar to the 2018 dividend, the department of Hoekstra would have been able to receive 77 percent of the net profit. That saves the state treasury 52.5 million euros. Later this year, Holland Casino will look into the possibility of transferring an interim dividend to the treasury. That will depend in part on when the company can reopen the doors of the branches.

Closed
Holland Casino has been closed since March 12 because of the Corona crisis. It will remain so until the government lifts the Corona measures. In any case, the measures now apply until 28 April. The company is seriously considering that the measures will take longer. In the best case scenario, the casinos may reopen after April 28th. However, the scenarios the company works with in order not to fall over if there is no income also take into account closure until April 7 next year.

In order to be able to pay all the bills, the company has called on NOW. This is the arrangement whereby the government reimburses up to 90 percent of the wage costs of entrepreneurs who have lost sales due to the corona crisis.

Pay taxes later
No new people are hired and temporary external workers are hired only to a limited extent. Furthermore, Holland Casino makes use of the possibility offered by the tax authorities to pay taxes later. The construction of two new casinos in Venlo and Utrecht will continue for the time being, partly because the company has already signed contracts for 36.9 million euros in total.