PUNE – India could be missing out on as much as $1.5 billion in lost tax revenue by not regulating online gambling. This is the conclusion reached in an in-depth report conducted and published by a leading online casino portal.
Despite a booming middle class and a rapidly expanding internet user base, only the state of Sikkim has made any meaningful efforts to regulate online gambling in India, the report said. On a national level, there seems to be little desire to regulate this lucrative market – even though an ever-increasing number of Indians gamble online, it added.
The study estimates that India’s online gambling market, if regulated, would be worth $5 billion. Using current levels of taxation applied in markets where online gambling has been regulated – typically 15-30 per cent of operators’ gross revenue – it would mean the Indian revenue machinery is missing out on as much as $1.5 billion per year in potential tax revenue.
This figure is likely to grow over time, the report said, adding that with internet usage growing rapidly in India, and more and more Indians now joining the middle classes, the online gambling market will grow rapidly in the years to come.
Regulation would bring other benefits, the report suggests. As in other countries, regulation of gambling – including online gambling – can be a great way to create jobs. Likewise, it also offers consumers in those countries a greater sense of protection.
It would also offer the Indian state the chance to finally address the flawed and antiquated laws governing gambling in the country. Many of these laws date back to colonial times, and have little relevance to modern India and its increasingly upwardly mobile, technologically skilled society, the report pointed out.
