Now, international platforms wooing Indian gamers with ‘No GST’ messages

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Platforms such as winbuzz.com and gamer777.com have roped in micro-influencers to reach out to Indian gamers. They are offering these influencers up to Rs 1,000 per post on social media platforms such as X (Twitter), Instagram and Facebook, asking users to switch to their platforms, ET has learnt. “They (offshore players) are taking advantage of the fact that gaming companies are in a Catch-22 situation right now as far as GST is concerned,” a senior executive at an Indian gaming company told ET.

One of the posts promoting 1xbet entices users to register on their platform with direct messaging such as “No 28% GST and no TDS”. Other advertisements and posts by platforms such as Winbuzz have put out ads saying that even if players were to earn Rs 1 crore on fantasy gaming apps, they would end up paying Rs 28 lakh as GST to the government, while if these players played on Winbuzz, they stood the chance to take home all the money as there was no need to pay taxes on winnings obtained from their website. ET has reviewed several of these ads and posts and found a similar pattern.

These posts also have disclaimers of sorts at the end, which claim that the post is not “promotional” or “paid for” and that the gamer is “just doing their bit” as “anyone else should”. India has barred advertisements that promote betting, gambling, or wagering of any kind, hence these disclaimers. Some of the posts promoting foreign gaming sites are put out on fake Twitter accounts being run by companies that manage several such accounts, an industry insider said.

Most of these platforms could not be reached for comments as they have no office or representatives in the country. They also do not list any contact details on their websites. On July 11,