TIMES OF INDIA
23RD JULY 2010
By Shailendra Awasthi | TNN
TAXING TIMES
State Hikes Betting Tax From 20 To 30%, Collections Drop
?Pune: The Maharashtra government dealt a heavy blow to racing in Western India on Thursday when it suddenly increased the betting tax on bookmakers from 20 to 30 %.
The impact of this move was visible on the first day itself when the betting collection of bookmakers both in Mumbai and Pune went down considerably.
Race goers who were placing bets with bookmakers so far had to pay Rs 26 extra on every 100 rupee bet which included 20 % government tax and six % commission to the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC).
But now with a further 10 % increase slapped by the state government, the punters now need to pay Rs 36 on every 100 rupees bet, irrespective of winning or losing.
With punters shying away, the increase had a huge impact on collections on Thursday. In Mumbai, the collection was just Rs 5,63,950 as compared to last Thursday (Rs 8,87,760) and Friday (Rs 10,02,110). In Pune too the bookies collected a mere Rs 9,10,070 compared to last Thursday (13,47,190) and Friday (16,71,000).
"It's a bad move,'' said bookmaker Fariz Makani, who runs bookmaking firm M. Ali Associates at the Pune Race Course.
"The collections at our firm went down by more than 40 % on the first day itself. The greater impact will be felt in the coming days,'' said the 48-year-old, who has been a bookmaker for over a decade.
Vivek Jain, chairman of the RWITC also expressed concern over the development. "Government says the increase was done just because they had not touched the bookmakers tax for the last decade. That is not the adequate reason, but we cannot do much rather than keep requesting them to bring it down,'' said Jain.
"It will further force the punters to turn to illegal bookmakers, which will affect the government's revenue,'' added Jain.
Rajesh Jadhav, a regular punter from Pune says such a move will kill racing. "Betting is no longer a profitable venture. If we keep paying so much irrespective of winning or losing, we will soon be left with no money for punting,'' opined the 53-year old.
