SPiCE’s webinar conference

Eventus International hosted an SPiCE India 2020 webinar titled ‘An Update on GST in The Gaming Industry’ on 8 April 2020. The event was moderated by Jay Sayta, strategic advisor, SPiCE India 2020. The webinar talked about judicial developments in GST on the gaming industry, GST rates on gambling, betting and skill games, GST scrutiny, and how to move forward for industry operators.

There was also debate as to whether gaming platforms should pay GST on the amount collected from players, as it is the actual transaction amount, or whether platforms should pay prize pools (distributed back to players) and taxes on the balance. , Which is a platform fee.

So far, gaming platforms have paid taxes on platform fees collected from their users, as the amount in escrow accounts does not even go into their pocket.

 

variables of GST

The GST Council recognizes that the gaming industry needs to consider two main variables of GST – price and rate.

The international method of taxation is to understand that the price is the actual margin from the transaction (ie the bet value minus prize pool). Casinos, horse racing, online gaming, betting rates and valuation issues were referred to the fitment committee. As per the proposed rates, the GST Council can take only 30% of the revenue at stake as revenue.

The session ended with Question and Answer round of the webinar Managing Director, Eventus International, announcing more upcoming SPiCE India webinars in the coming weeks.