RMG players submit list of 540 illegal betting and gambling firms with DGGI
According to Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), real money online gaming companies constituted 41 percent of the total Rs 2 lakh crore evasion uncovered this year.
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The Real Money Gaming (RMG) operators have submitted data of over 540 illegal betting and gambling firms to Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) for operating in India. Recently, the DGGI in its report said that real-money online gaming companies are the largest tax evaders amounting to Rs 82,000 crore.
According to DGGI, real money online gaming companies constituted 41 percent of the total Rs 2 lakh crore evasion uncovered this year. In its report, the DGGI mentioned that offshore companies include various online casinos based in tax havens like Malta, Cyprus, Curacao, and the British Virgin Islands remain uncooperative and seem to intentionally avoid tax compliance. While other entities are difficult to trace, as they operate through VPNs or cloud-based platforms.
The RMG operators submitted list of over 540 illegal websites and apps since the implementation of 28 percent tax regime from October 1, 2023 till date. The notorious illegal offshore betting and gambling companies change their domain names and resume their business operations in India. The DGGI is now collaborating with foreign governments to block websites and apps operating from the foreign soil.
A senior official from RMG industry on condition of anonymity said, “We keep tracking on activities of illegal betting and gambling websites and applications. Recently, we found that a new group of users including minors was part of a Telegram group placing bets on an illegal offshore betting website. We have reported the same to the DGGI and the group now has been shut.”
The official said, “We collect IPs and links which are submitted to DGGI. They later send it to MeitY to block the domains. In certain cases we have also baited these illegal operators to communicate with us. They openly claim that we do not charge any GST or taxes on placing bets.”
Centre blocked a total of 581 apps in December last year- 174 of which were betting and gambling apps, and 87 were loan lending apps. Some of the apps that were banned included Mahadev, Parimatch, Fairplay, 1XBET, Lotus365, Dafabet and Betwaysatt.
It is to be noted that the offshore sports betting market receives an estimated $100 billion annually in deposits from India and has been growing at 20 percent per year in the last three years post-pandemic, according to a Think Change Forum (TCF) report.
Despite best enforcement efforts, the illegal offshore betting industry (under the new GST regime) will continue to grow at 20 percent at the least, leading to a tax loss figure of Rs 6,72,205 crore by 2026, the report noted.
