The Supreme Court today (day 18) continued final hearings in the Gameskraft batch of GST cases, with proceedings focused on the classification and scope of matters under challenge. The matter is being heard by the bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan.
Senior Advocate C. Aryama Sundaram, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted a detailed list classifying the 93 pending cases in the batch into five distinct categories.
According to the list, the matters have been divided as follows:
1. GST on Online Games: comprising 1 Special Leave Petition (SLP), 21 writ petitions, and 18 transferred cases, including the principal appeal filed by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) against Gameskraft Technologies before the Supreme Court.
2. Regulation of Online Gaming by States: consisting of 3 civil appeals and 1 SLP involving challenges to state laws enacted by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the regulation or prohibition of online gaming and fantasy sports.
| Sl. No. | Case No. | Party Names | Impugned Judgment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CA 6124–6131/2023 | State of Tamil Nadu v. Junglee Games | Judgment dated 03.08.2021 passed by the Hon’ble Madras High Court in W.P. Nos. 18022/2020, 18029/2020, 18044/2020, 19374/2020, 19380/2020, 7354/2021, 7356/2021 and 13870/2021 |
| 2 | CA 6144/2023 | Varun Gumber v. Federation of Fantasy Sports | Judgment dated 14.02.2022 passed by the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in WP 22371 of 2021 |
| 3 | CA 6132–6143/2023 | State of Karnataka v. All India Gaming Federation | Judgment dated 14.02.2022 passed by the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in WP Nos. 18703, 18729, 18733, 18738, 18803, 18942, 19241, 19271, 19322, 19X0 and 22371 of 2021 |
| 4 | SLP (C) No. 1588–1592/2024 | State of Tamil Nadu v. All India Gaming Federation | Judgment dated 09.11.2023 passed by the Hon’ble Madras High Court in W.P. Nos. 13203, 13593, 13720, 13722 and 14704 of 2023 |
3. GST on Casinos: comprising 9 transferred cases and 5 writ petitions, including those filed by leading casino operators such as Delta Corp, Highstreet Cruises, and Golden Gaming.
4. GST on Horseracing: comprising 34 transferred cases, mostly involving turf clubs including the Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Royal Western India Turf Clubs.
5. GST on Lottery: with one writ petition filed by Summit Online Trade Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
The categorisation was aimed at highlighting the nuanced differences in legal and factual contexts between each class of petitioners particularly between online gaming operators, casino companies, and horseracing clubs even though all are impacted by the retrospective 28% GST levy and valuation under Rule 31A of the CGST Rules.
Source: G2G
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