Asia

Supreme Court of India Upholds Taxes on Lotteries

Published

5 years ago

December 7, 2020

Niji Narayan

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Supreme Court of India has ruled in favour of the application of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on lotteries.

India’s GST Council applies a duty of 12% on lotteries run in the same state and of 28% on those sold in other states.

Punjab operator Skill Lotto Solutions had launched a legal claim arguing that application of the tax to lotteries and lottery winnings was discriminatory and against the constitution.

The plaintiff said lottery tickets were not goods as defined by the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, but “actionable claims” which are exempt from taxes, except for specific gaming taxes.

The Supreme Court has ruled that it is not discriminatory to apply taxes to betting and gambling tickets since they had always been regulated in the country. This allowed the Council to treat lottery tickets and winnings differently than other actionable claims.

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Niji Narayan

Niji Narayan has been in the writing industry for well over a decade or so. He prides himself as one of the few survivors left in the world who have actually mastered the impossible art of copy editing. Niji graduated in Physics and obtained his Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism. He has always interested in sports writing and travel writing. He has written for numerous websites and his in-depth analytical articles top sports magazines like Cricket Today and Sports Today. He reports gaming industry headlines from all around the globe.