Rs. 6,384 Cr GST notice issued to Casino operator Delta Corp

Deltatech Gaming Ltd, the arm of Casino operator Delta Corp has received a goods and service tax (GST) shortfall notice worth Rs. 6,384 crore from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Kolkata, on October 13, 2023, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.

Deltatech got a tax payment shortfall notice for the period January 2018 to November 2022 worth Rs. 6,237 and a shortfall of Rs. 148 crore between July 2017 to October 2022.

Officials have sought clearance of payment with interest and penalty failing which the company will be served with a show cause notice.

Delta Corp said in its statement that the amounts claimed were based on the gross bet value of all games played during the relevant period. The demand for GST on gross bet value, rather than gross rake amount, has been an industry issue and various representations have already been made to the Government at an industry level in relation to this issue.

As per the law, Deltatech Gaming’s CEO is liable to pay the penalty.

The Company and its subsidiary will follow all legal remedies available to them to challenge such tax demands and related proceedings and have been legally advised that the above notice and the tax demands are arbitrary and contrary to the law, added by it.

In September, Delta Corp received a notice to pay Rs. 11,140 crore in tax arrears. Delta Corp and two of its units had received intimations of an additional tax shortfall aggregating to Rs. 5,683 crore for the period between July 2017 and March 2022.

This notice issued under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act in 2017, deals another blow to the gaming company which is already contentious with the federal government’s elevated levies.

The GST Council has decided to impose an indirect tax of 28% on money collected by gaming companies. While global investors requested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the 28% gaming tax, citing a setback to prospective investments of about $4 billion, the revenue secretary of the country had said there was no need to rethink the tax.

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