Seven online lottery parlours raided in Mumbai for GST evasion

Seven onlওine lottery centres were raided at different locations in central Mumbaꦛi for alleged evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as per .

As per the news report, the Mumbai police crime branch arrested 11 persons for issuing hand-written lotter𒁏y tickets instead of online lottery tickets printed on government 🔯or RBI paper as required under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act and Rules.

“During the raids, police have recovered 11 computers, hard disks, CPUs, five mo𓄧bile phones and cash worth over Rs 1 lakh. The owners of the online lottery centres used to give hand-written tickets, of the various online lotteries, including Goa’s authorised lottery ‘Lucky Four’, inste♔ad of the printed tickets,” an unnamed official involved in the raids told the press.

Apart from booking those involved in running the lottery terminals for GST evasion and violation of tax laws, an offence was registered under section 294A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 for illegally selling lottery tickets. The accused were also booked under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 4🌌65 (forgery), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of IPC and under sections 4(a) and 7(3) 𓂃of the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998.

Lottery distribution companies have against the 28% GST on face value of lottery tickets which they claim will make the business unsustainable. In Septem🍌ber this year, India’s leading lottery distribution companies for GST evasion. The charges leveled against them at the time included payment of tax at a lesser rate and non-filing of returns.