Centre Constitutes Task Force to Regulate Online Gaming : Finance Ministry

New Delhi : Pankaj Choudhary, Minister of State for Finance, informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the GST Council has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to assess the value of casinos, race courses and online gaming activities. He also said 28 percent GST is being levied on online gaming.

“Actionable claims in the form of betting and gambling, including those arising from online gaming attract 28 percent GST and the GST Act does not make the levy dependent on whether it is a game of skill or game of chance. Cases have been filed challenging the levy of GST on online gaming,” Pankaj Choudhary said in the Upper House.

In a written reply to a question by YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy, the  Minister of State for Finance said the government has constituted a task force with various ministries to look into the issue of framing rules and regulations for regulating online gaming. Currently, online games like betting and gambling, regardless of whether it is a skill game or a chance game, attract GST. 

Notably, in January 2019, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had introduced a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha and proposed to bring regulations for the online gaming sector.

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