West Bengal Assembly passes bill to impose 28% GST on online gaming, horse racing, casinos

Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly on Thursday passed a bill by virtue of which online gaming, horse racing and casinos will be taxed at the highest GST rate of 28 per cent on full face value of the bets involved.

Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya said when the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, will become an Act, it will augment the revenue of the state.

West Bengal is one of the states which has advocated taxation of such online gaming and similar activities at the highest rate, she said.

Bhattacharya said activities like online gaming, casinos and horse racing are all games of chance and not those of skill, and in these cases, the “right to participate and the right to win cannot be separated”.

The minister, who is a member of the GST Council, said West Bengal has been in favour of taxing such activities at the highest rates.

She also alleged that there had been a delay in tabling this bill in the assembly as the governor was seeking numerous queries on this. GST rates on these activities became effective from October 1 this year in several states.

The minister said that the state is yet to get Rs 467 crore from the Centre on account of Inter-State Goods and Services Tax (IGST).