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Lottery distributors are not liable to pay service tax to the Union government, the Supreme Court held on Tuesday while dismissing an appeal of the Centre on the issue. A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and NK Singh did not agree to the appeal of the Centre against the Sikkim High Court judgement. Since there is no agency in the relationship, the respondents (lottery distributors) were not liable to pay service tax. However, the respondents will continue to pay the gambling tax levied by the state under Entry 62, List II of the Constitution, Justice Nagarathna said while pronouncing the verdict. "Service tax is not leviable on the transactions between the purchaser of the lottery tickets and firmIn view of the aforesaid discussions, we find no merit in the appeals filed by the Union of India and others. Hence, these appeals are dismissed," the bench said. Upholding the Sikkim High Court verdict, the top court said it is only the state government that can impose taxes on ..
Remember this moment because it probably won't last: A US lottery jackpot soared above USD 1 billion, and that's still a big deal. After three months without anyone winning the top prize, a ticket worth an estimated USD 1.22 billion was sold in California for the drawing Friday night. The high number evoked headlines and likely lured more people to convenience stores with dreams of private spacewalks above the Earth. It doesn't seem to matter that the nation's top 10 jackpots, not including Friday, already boasted 10-figure payouts. For many of us, something stirs inside when a number ticks one dollar above USD 999,999,999. The question lurking is, what happens when USD 1 billion becomes routine and people don't care about it anymore? said Jonathan D. Cohen, author of the 2022 book For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America. There's no easy round number after a billion, Cohen said. "But also, how much money can one person possibly, possibly, possibly need? Mega ..
A 28-year-old man in China has won a 680 million yuan (USD 96 million) lottery jackpot, the biggest in the country so far. The winner is from Guizhou province in southwestern China, according to the website of the government-backed organiser China Welfare Lottery, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. He bought 133 tickets at two yuan (USD 28 cents) each, betting on the same group of seven numbers every time, and each of his tickets won a prize of 5.16 million yuan (USD 725,000), the local television station reported. The lottery pool entitled the man, whose identity has not been released to the public, which is routine for prize winners, to receive the 680 million yuan (USD 96 million) bonanza. The unidentified jackpot winner said he was so excited when he found out he had won that he could not sleep. An official from the provincial welfare lottery centre said the winner came to pick up the prize money on February 7. According to the Individual Income Tax
A total of 12 cases of GST evasion involving Rs 345 crore have been detected against lottery distributors since July 2017, Parliament was informed on Monday. Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad in a written reply to the Lok Sabha said Rs 622 crore, including interest and penalty, have been recovered from lottery distributors from July 2017 till November 2023. "Twelve cases involving GST evasion of Rs 344.57 crore have been detected against lottery distributors and Rs 621.56 crore (including interest and penalty) has been recovered/realized from July 2017 to till November 2023," Karad said. Karad further said the Finance Ministry had received a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for comments regarding disbursement of prize amount of lotteries through formal banking channel. "Comments in this regard have been sent to MHA. Using formal banking channel for any kind of transaction, including disbursement of lottery prize, is helpful in mitigating the associated mo
Lottery players will have another shot at a huge Mega Millions jackpot Friday night and a chance to break a stretch of more than three months without a big winner of the game. The estimated USD 940 million prize has been building since someone last matched all six numbers and won the jackpot April 18. Since then, there have been 28 straight drawings without a jackpot winner. The jackpot is now the eighth-largest ever in the U.S. It comes a little over a week after someone in Los Angeles won a USD 1.08 billion Powerball prize that ranked as the sixth-largest in U.S. history. It's still a mystery who won that prize. Lottery jackpots grow so large because the odds of winning are so small. For Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million. The USD 940 million prize would be for a sole winner choosing to be paid through an annuity with annual payments over 30 years. Jackpot winners almost always opt for a lump sum payment, which for Friday night's drawing .
Four million applications were received for an online lottery where winners get to buy tickets for next year's Paris Olympics, the local organizing committee said Friday. They hope to sell 1.3 million tickets for the 2024 Games as a result of the latest draw. Applications ended Thursday evening and winners will know early next month if they have been successful. They can start buying from May 11 and have a 48-hour timeslot to do so. They'll be told 48 hours beforehand when their slot is. Figures on which countries the 4 million lottery applications came from, and whether more men or women applied, were not available. The five countries who bought the most tickets, and other statistics, will be made known after the sale has finished in June. By then, organizers expect that about half of the 10 million tickets for the Paris Games will have been sold. A total of 3.2 million tickets were sold from the first phase of sales, featuring packages, with the top buyers coming from Britain an
A giant Mega Millions jackpot grew larger on Wednesday to an estimated USD 640 million after another drawing without a winner. No one won the lottery game's top prize on Tuesday night, making it 21 straight drawings without anyone matching all six numbers. The next drawing will be Friday night. The huge jackpot comes less than two months after the largest lottery prize ever, a USD 2.04 billion Powerball prize that was won on November 8 in California. So far, that big winner hasn't stepped forward to claim the prize. The reason for all the big prizes is simple long odds ensure there are few winners and the long streaks of lottery futility allow jackpots to grow ever larger week after week. The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot is one in 302.6 million. The advertised jackpot of USD 640 million is for a winner who opts to be paid with an annuity, doled out through annual payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners take the cash option, with for Friday's drawing will be an estim
An auto-rickshaw driver, who was planning to go to Malaysia to work as a chef, on Sunday won the Rs 25 crore Onam bumper lottery in Kerala, just a day after his application for a loan of Rs 3 lakh was approved. Even more interesting is that Anoop, hailing from Sreevaraham here, bought the winning ticket -- TJ 750605 -- on Saturday. But it was not his first choice, he told media persons who were present at the agency where he had bought the ticket. He did not like the first ticket he chose, so he opted for a different one which turned out to be a winner, he said. Regarding the loan and his Malaysia trip, an ecstatic Anoop said, "The bank called today regarding the loan and I said I don't need it anymore. I will not be going to Malaysia either." He has been buying lottery tickets for the last 22 years and has won amounts ranging from a few hundreds to a maximum of Rs 5,000 in the past, Anoop said. "I was not expecting to win and therefore, I was not watching the lottery results on