MeitY Is Asked By The GST Authorities To Block Sixty Online Gaming Platforms Due To Non-Compliance

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was notified by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities about over sixty offshore online gaming platforms. The ministry was requested to restrict these platforms since they did not adhere to the registration regulations of India. The authorities had already informed the Ministry of 110 additional gambling platforms for the same reason, according to NDTV Profit.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the imposition of a 28% GST tax on the whole game value for online gambling, horse racing, and casinos during the 50th GST Council meeting in July of last year. This action eliminated the distinction between skill-based games (like poker or rummy) and gambling. In April of last year, MeitY also changed the IT Rules, mandating that online gambling platforms meet certain guidelines:

Create a procedure for addressing grievances.
Only run games that are registered and have verification marks.
Be open and honest about the financial details.
Publicize a random number generator with no certificates from bots.
Authenticate the user (KYC)
Verification of accounts voluntarily
Name a Chief Officer for Compliance
Name a nodal point of communication.
own a physical address for communication in India
Give the government any information it requests within a day.
The new tax law had sparked protests from the online gaming business, which claimed that it would drastically reduce earnings. In a letter to the Indian government, more than 100 online skill-gaming companies stated, “The proposal to charge GST on the full deposit value will reverse the growth trajectory of the industry.” Conflict between the federal government and a few state governments resulted from it as well. In contrast to the central government’s intention to regulate the business, the Tamil Nadu government issued a bill outlawing online gambling in the state. This could result in a potential legal dispute between the two.