The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a State legislature has the right to impose tax on lotteries conducted by other States within its jurisdiction.
A Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna observed that ‘lotteries’ is a “species of gambling activity”. The court said ‘betting and gambling’ is part of the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
“The power to tax is on all activities which are in the nature of ‘betting and gambling,’ including lotteries. Since, there is no dispute that lotteries, irrespective of whether it is conducted or organised by the Government of India or the Government of State or is authorised by the State or conducted by an agency or instrumentality of State government or Central government or any private player, is ‘betting and gambling’, State legislatures have the power to tax lotteries under Entry 62 of the State List,” Justice Nagarathna, who authored the 122-page judgment, held.
