11 April, 2007 - After it was first introduced in the country in October 2005 the PlayWin online lottery game from Sikkim, India, which had become immensely popular with the Bhutanese, has been closed since April 1 in Thimphu and Phuentsholing. According to the managing director of the All Stars Entertainment, Sangay Dorji, who operates PlayWin in Bhutan told Kuensel that he decided to close the game following the huge amount of tax imposed on the business by the revenue and customs department.
The compound tax, which calculates to about Nu. 7.8 million a week, according to Sangay Dorji, was too high for him to pay.
Revenue and customs officials said that in keeping with the National Assembly resolutions they wanted to discourage online gambling and imposing tax was one of the only ways to do so.
On the tax amount, the revenue and customs director, Sangay Zam, said that they imposed the tax depending on the number of draws.
“We charge Nu. 25,000 as tax for each draw,” she said, adding that the idea was to reduce the number of draws. “More number of draws, higher the tax,” Sangay Zam said.
The revenue and customs department recorded about 25 draws a day or 175 draws a week in the PlayWin online lottery game, which adds up to a total tax amount of Nu. 625,000 a day or more than Nu. 4.3 million a week.
“That is a lot of draw for an online lottery business,” said Sangay Zam. “We will stand by the tax we have imposed.”
Sangay Dorji said that as a “loyal citizen” he supported the resolutions of the National Assembly to discourage gambling. “But the tax should have been imposed with gradual increments over time and not such huge amount all at once,” he said.
Sangay Dorji said that he appealed to the concerned ministries to consider giving him a little more time to wrap up his business. “Wrapping up includes a lot of business transactions with the Indian counterparts,” he said.
“I hope that the government’s decision would be such that while they earn some revenue I get some time to wind up,” Sangay Dorji told Kuensel.
By Samten Wangchuk
