Maharashtra goes after lottery firms over alleged $150M tax default

A Maharashtra official is going after six lottery operators that she claimed have cheated the state government out of an estimated INR1,000 crore (USD149.622 million) in taxes.

Account officer Sneha Narvekar is accusing the operators—M/s Swagat Agency, M/s Samarpan Trading Pvt Ltd, M/s Kenlot Gaming Solutions Pvt Ltd, M/s Jupiter Gaming Pvt Ltd, M/s SL Marketing and M/s Shweta Enterprises—of defaulting on tax payments, according to a mid-day.com report.

Narvekar, who also serves as the state’s assistant commissioner for lottery tax, discovered that the six “had drawn lotteries in the state but had not paid any tax.” The operators, according to the official, illegally sold online tickets of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram and operated lottery draws in Maharashtra without informing the state officials.

“They have also not paid advance tax and in an organised manner in order to gain wrongful profit caused a revenue loss of Rs 913.13 crores to Maharashtra,” the report stated.