Casinos Act to go, Maharashtra GST amend on the cards

Nagpur, Dec 8, 2023

The Maharashtra government tabled five bills on the first day of the assembly session on Thursday, which included one to repeal the 'Maharashtra Casinos (Control and Tax) Act, 1976' and amending 'Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017'.

The government also tabled bills for amendments to the 'Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016', 'Maharashtra Apartment Ownership Act, 1970', and 'Chit Funds Act, 1982'.

The bill to amend the Casinos Act was tabled by home minister Devendra Fadnavis. "The Act was enacted to control and regulate casinos in the state and to impose a tax on betting there," he said. "The act mentions that it would come into force after the government issued a notification in the official gazette. However, the government thinks casinos should not be allowed in the state," the copy of the bill mentioned.

The amendments proposed in the Maharashtra GST Act include defining the expressions 'online gaming', 'online money gaming', 'specified actionable claims' and 'virtual digital asset'. It also proposes a new clause to provide mandatory registration of persons supplying online money gaming from a place outside India to a person in India. It seeks clarity on taxability of actionable claims involved in or by way of casinos, horse racing & online gaming.

[The Times of India]