RWITC wants punters to call in their bets, state says hang on - By Usman Rangeela
Posted on - 22 Mar 2011
RWITC wants punters to call in their bets, state says hang on
Usman Rangeela
Mumbai Mirror
If the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) has its way with the Maharashtra state government, punters who can’t make it to the racecourse may soon have the option of placing their bets through cellphones.
In a desperate attempt to shore up its revenues from totalisators (tote) betting, which have dipped to abysmal levels since the betting tax hike in April last year, the RWITC has asked for permission from the state government to accept phone-betting.
The state government, however, remained non-committal and has asked the turf club to hold on till an opinion is sought from the concerned department (Revenue Ministry).
The turf club may not have got any relief from the government for now but the management will surely take heart from the fact that for the first time in many years senior Cabinet ministers gave them an audience and also agreed to consider their demand to slash the betting tax.
MEETING WITH AJIT PAWAR
According to a top Mantralaya official, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met RWITC chairman Vivek Jain and several club authorities recently at the latter’s request. Home Minister R R Patil was also present along with some senior bureaucrats from the Revenue and Home ministry. The discussion mainly revolved around the 10 per cent hike in betting tax announced last year and the disastrous effect it has had on the tote betting.
Pawar and Patil were also informed about the Bangalore Turf Club’s annual turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore on the totes due to the four per cent betting tax (recently hiked to eight per cent) levied by the state government.
However, the bureaucrats informed Pawar about the bitter experience when the betting tax was reduced during the BJP-Shiv Sena regime in 1999-2000 and the tax collections had fallen instead of the anticipated increase in revenue for the state’s exchequer.
The Additional Chief Secretary (Home) suggested that the government was willing to reduce the tax provided the RWITC gave them a guarantee that there would be a spurt in the betting tax revenue. The turf club, however, refused to give any such assurance.
Finally, Patil informed that since the betting hike decision was taken by the Cabinet any proposal to reverse it has to be discussed before the same forum.
The minister, however, warned the club that if the betting tax is slashed and it is found that there is no substantial gain in the annual revenue for the state government, the concession will be withdrawn.
