“We are continuously evaluating evolving regulatory landscapes across the many markets we serve,” Super Group CEO Neal Menashe said. “Informed by years of operating our geographically diverse business, we remain confident about the long-term growth opportunities in front of us.”
Tax will be applied to the full-face value of a bet, rather than gross gaming revenue (GGR), making it a turnover-based tax. For online gambling, tax will be applied to the full value of all bets placed with operators.
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With land-based casinos, tax will be applicable on the face value of the chips purchased at each venue. With horse racing, tax will be applied on the full value of the bets placed with bookmakers and totalizators.
Super Group says the new rules mean the Indian market no longer commercially viable for the business. As such, it has dropped all services with immediate effect.
“This decision will be extremely detrimental to the entire Indian gaming industry, with the GST on deposit increasing liability up to 400-500%, and will lead to lakhs of job losses,” the AIGF said. The new tax rate is the second major change to India’s online gambling market this year. In January, India’s government also published a new set of rules to regulate online gambling.
The amendments state any online game offered must not be in violation of any existing laws. These include state-wide gambling bans. Proposals were also set out for self-regulatory bodies. These would comprise online gaming businesses and be responsible for creating rules for the industry.
