Gambling Alert! Govt May Levy Up To 28% GST; UP, Bengal Back Move

The state governments of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have come out in support of a uniform GST rate of 28 per cent on online gaming, casinos and horse racing without making a distinction between games of skill and games of chance

New Delhi: Earlier this week, it was reported that the Group of Ministers (GoM) formed to decide GST rates on online gaming, casinos and horse racing, is open to the view of levying different rates considering different valuation mechanism for all three.

However, the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have come out in support of a uniform GST rate of 28 per cent on online gaming, casinos and horse racing without making a distinction between games of skill and games of chance. Adding to this, West Bengal Finance Minister said, “The Supreme Court has already held in various cases that games of skill and games of chance cannot be separated. The Uttar Pradesh finance minister has supported us on all these issues”, reported the Financial Express.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who heads the GST council-nominated GOM, said in an earlier Twitter post that the GoM will be taking opinions of stakeholders, hold successive meetings and then take legal opinion before submitting the final report.

The FE report also said that the GoM will be seeking legal opinion, probably from the attorney-general, before submitting the final report in a week to 10 days. However, no official mention about the final submission of the report is out yet.

Betting on horse races, football games, casinos has been a favourite sport of people since time immortal. Historically, it has been mostly men who indulged in gambling for various societal reasons. But lately, with the emergence of internet, the divide between men and women with regard to gambling has considerably narrowed.