Gaming industry slams no rollback on 28% taxation

livemint.com:

₹100, they will only be taxed on that amount and not for every game that they play with that money. Eventually, it is the player that is taxed and not the platform. A rummy operator said, this is the highest tax rate in the world, and will have a crippling impact on the online rummy industry.

It will foster the creation of black market gaming businesses and impact their ability to operate in the market. "This will likely result in closure of our platforms and businesses and over time, the black market operators will siphon revenue from legal, taxpaying operators and consumer protection will be at risk.“ A statement from The All India Gaming Federation agreed. The decision, it said, by the council of valuation on deposits will severely impact the online gaming sector and result in a situation where a majority of players, including the MSMEs will no longer be able to survive in the face of a humongous tax liability of 400-500%.

The federation represents companies like Mobile Premier League, Zupee, Gameskraft, A23, Nazara, etc. And while established and well entrenched skill gaming companies would be able to scrape through, even their revenues and valuations will significantly fall. Saumya Singh Rathore, Co-Founder at WinZO, said that the Online Skill Gaming sector is not a homogeneous category and has fairly diverse, nascent, and distinct business models that we request be evaluated more carefully.