The three judge bench of the Supreme Court on December 3, 2020 held that lottery, gambling and betting are taxable under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.
- The apex court held that lottery, betting and gambling were “actionable claims” and came within the definition of ‘goods’ under Section 2(52) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
- A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said the levy of GST on lotteries did not amount to “hostile discrimination”.
- The bench also said that when the 2017 Act defines the ‘goods’ to include actionable claims and included only three categories of actionable claims, i.e., lottery, betting and gambling, for purposes of levy of GST, it cannot be said that there was no rationale for Parliament in including these three actionable claims for tax purposes, and leaving others.
- The Skill Lotto Solutions had challenged the Section 2(52) of the 2017 GST Act and notifications levying tax on lottery. It had contended that the law was violative of the fundamental rights and contrary to the SC judgment (Sunrise Associates Vs. Government of NCT of Delhi) that held that lotteries were merely actionable claims and cannot be defined as ‘goods’.
