India’s parliament August 11 passed a revised Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council that taxes percent deposits made by players to online gaming platforms, casinos and horse racing clubs at a uniform 28 percent, Yogonet reported August 14. It goes into effect October 1.
The measures passed were the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Amendment Bill, 2023.
Per Yogonet, the vote came a month after the recommendation came from the GST Council and by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, passed the bills within three minutes after they were introduced, followed by the upper house (Rajya Sabha) vote that came within four minutes of the bill’s introduction.
Currently online betting is taxed at 28 percent and other games are taxed at 18 percent of gross gaming revenue.
In July, Sitharaman announced the hike for all forms of gambling. He told reporters earlier in August that the GST Council will return with a position review six months after the new law goes into effect.
The amendments do not affect social online gaming where no money changes hands. At the same time the government intends to take actions to block non-sanctioned offshore and black market platforms.
Rajat Mohan, senior partner at accounting firm AMRG & Associates, told Yogonet, “These regulations clarified that international online gaming corporations would be treated at par with Indian counterparts and need registration in India for payment of GST.”
