Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2019年8月 亞博匯 17 INDIAN CASINOS TARGETED AS AUTHORITIES ARGUE FOR GST ON BETS WAGERED 六間印度娛樂場被指 拖欠9.5億美元稅款 INDIA’S Director General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has accused six casinos in Goa and Sikkim of tax evasion to the tune of 6,500 crore, equivalent to an eye-watering US$950 million. According to a report in The Times of India , DGGI investigators inspected five casinos in Goa and one in Sikkim through May and June where it is alleged operators have been calculating GST based on net revenue when they should be paying GST on the total of all bets made. While the mathematical absurdity of taxes being paid on wagers rather than revenue seems obvious to most, it hasn’t stopped officials from various state and national tax agencies arguing for just such a system to be enforced. India’s largest casino operator Delta Corp and Fantasy Sports operator Dream11 are among a number of companies to have already been targeted for alleged tax evasion as a result, with Delta’s share price having plummeted 30% since news of the GST plan first broke in early May. In a recent note, Union Gaming’s Grant Govertsen observed that collecting the nation’s 28% GST on wagers would see taxation outpace revenue by five times. “This is, of course, preposterous as there isn’t a single relevant jurisdiction in the world that taxes gaming revenue in this manner (either via a direct gaming tax and/or via a GST like in Singapore), and any attempt to do so would result in negative net revenue after paying winning bets and taxes,” Govertsen said. “The math just doesn’t work and we would expect the company to prevail in any legal action should the government actually try to pursue a tax case.” 印度 的商品及服務稅情報部總幹事(DGGI)指控6間在果亞及錫金 的賭場拖欠高達6500克若的稅款，相當於令人咋舌的9.5億美元。 根據當地傳媒《The Times of India》的報導，DGGI的調查員 於5月至6月期間巡視了5間在果亞及1間在錫金的賭場。有指娛樂 場營運商們都根據淨收入來計算商品及服務稅(GST)稅額，而正 確的做法卻是應該根據總投注額來計算。 雖然以投注額而非收入來計算稅額的這個做法實在匪夷所 思，但依然無阻多個地方及國家稅務機構的官員對此的堅持。包 括印度的最大娛樂場營連商Delta Corp以及虛擬運動營運公司 Dream11在內的多間企業，都已經因此而受到了逃稅的指控，當 中Delta的股價，自5月初爆出有關GST的消息以來就已經下挫了 30%。 在最近的一篇投資觀點中，Union Gaming的Grant Govert- sen觀察到，如果以投注額來計算該國應收的28% GST的話，則稅 款會比收入高出5倍。 他表示：「這個當然是一件荒謬的事，因為全世界沒有一個司 法管轄區會以這種方法去對博彩收入徵稅(一般是通過直接博彩 稅和/或通過新加坡那種GST)，而這種做法將可能導致在支付彩 金及稅款後出現負淨收入。」 「這種計算方式並不可行，而我們也期待，即使政府真的企 圖通過法律手段去這樣追討稅款的話，公司將會是勝利的一方。」