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In those circumstances, the Finanzgericht Hamburg decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling: ‘1. Is Article 401 of [the VAT Directive], read in conjunction with Article 135(1)(i) of that directive, to be interpreted as meaning that [VAT] and a special national tax on games of chance may be levied only as alternatives, and not cumulatively? 2. Only if the answer to Question 1 is in the affirmative: If, under national provisions, both [VAT] and a special tax are levied on games of chance, does this mean that [VAT] is not levied or that the special tax is not levied, or does the decision as to which of the two taxes may not be levied depend on national law? 3. Are the first sentence of Article 1(2) and Article 73 of [the VAT Directive] to be interpreted as precluding a national provision or practice whereby, in the operation of gaming machines…, the contents of the machine’s cash box (“electronically counted cash box”) serves as the basis of assessment after a set interval? 4. Only if the answer to Question 3 is in the affirmative: How is the taxable amount otherwise to be determined? 5. Are the first sentence of Article 1(2) and Article 73 of [the VAT Directive] to be interpreted as meaning that the levying of VAT is subject to the condition that the trader can pass the [VAT] on to the recipient of the supply? If so, what is to be understood by the ability to pass on the tax? In particular, is the legal permissibility of a correspondingly higher price for the goods or service an attribute of the ability to pass that tax on? 6. Only if in answer to Question 5 the legal permissibility of a higher price is a precondition: Are the first sentence of Article 1(2) and Article 73 of [the VAT Directive] to be interpreted as meaning that provisions which limit the consideration for goods or services subject to [VAT] are to be applied in accordance with [EU] law in such a way that [VAT] is understood not to be included in the consideration set but to be in addition to it, even where, according to their wording, the national provisions governing consideration do not expressly so provide? 7. Only if the answer to Question 5 is in the affirmative and the answers to Questions 6 and 3 are in the negative: In the present case, is no [VAT] to be levied on the total turnover of the gaming machines, or is it to be levied only on the part that cannot be passed on, and how is that part to be determined: for example, on the turnover at which the stake per game could not be increased, or on the turnover at which the contents of the cash box per hour could not be increased? 8. Is Article 1(2) of [the VAT Directive] to be interpreted as precluding a national regulation on an unharmonised tax under which the [VAT] owed is to be set in full against that tax? 9. Only if the answer to Question 8 is in the affirmative: Does the setting of [VAT] against a national, unharmonised tax in the case of traders liable to pay the latter tax have the effect that [VAT] may not be levied on their competitors who, though not subject to this unharmonised tax, are subject to another special tax and for whom there is no provision for such offsetting?’