India’s lawmakers are discussing taxing online gaming at 28 percent of each bet. The idea is level the playing field between online gaming and brick and mortar casinos and horse racing, which are taxed at this rate.
The logic is that physical casinos pay more in overhead and their rivals shouldn’t be able to take advantage of that. The proposal, first aired in the Business Times, would be in the form of a new goods and service tax.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has long sought to adjust the gaming tax upward and bring in more funds. One idea would tax chips, rather than individual transactions.
The horse racing industry is raising its voice to prevent similar attention from being paid to it, with spokespeople saying it is already highly regulated and taxed.
Other ways the government might tax online gaming would be to apply a tax to deposits, platform fees or entry fees.
