Gaming firms in Sabah to absorb the 6pc GST
Published on: Tuesday, February 10, 2015
KOTA KINABALU: Gaming companies in Sabah will absorb the six per cent Goods and Service Tax (GST) after its implementation in April 1, said Datuk Dr TC Goh. "We have been directed by the Ministry of Finance who is our licensed authority and with the consent of the Customs Department to bear the six per cent GST."Therefore, the 6 per cent tax will be part of our expenses…we will absorb it or the other way around is to convert into the total revenue making it 2.4 per cent," he said on Monday.
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However, Goh who is the President of Everise Ventures Sdn Bhd (EVSB), the managing company of Sandakan Turf Club (STC), explained that under the special scheme set by the government, they will deduct the pool betting duty, gaming tax, the prize they need to pay to the winner, pay out ratio, pay out winning prize money from their total revenue."If our total nett is positive, then we're required to pay six per cent tax to the government but if it is negative, then we're not required to pay," he said, adding that they are not allowed to carry forward any draws in terms of losses.Goh also explained that punters pay 15 per cent sales tax imposed by the State Government."So we will collect the tax from the punters and pay it to the government. Therefore, you can see that the number forecast industry is selling RM1.15 per unit whereas in peninsula, they do not have this.
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"There is sales tax in Sarawak but they only pay 7.5 which means RM1.75 but we are selling it for RM1.15. Therefore, this is an uphill task for the number forecast industry in Sabah generally," he said, adding that 2015 will be a challenging year especially after the implementation of GST.According to him, the various high taxes imposed by the Federal and State government, Customs Department as well as Inland Revenue Board will definitely affect their sales revenue.
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"There will be less competition among licensed operators compared to the illegal ones."Therefore, we urge the government and of course the authority to look into this problem and take necessary actions against those illegal operators to protect legal operators and government revenue."As you can see, we pay a lot of taxes and if our revenue drops then the government will receive less taxes as well," he said, stating that they are not allowed to increase their selling or change the prize payout unless they received an approval from the government."STC is one of the operators in Sabah and we have Sports Toto as well as Diriwan 88. Out of these three, STC is the only company which has one product, which is 4D. The rest of the operators have three or more products."So we are among the smallest and the only Sabah-based company," he said, stating that the increase of products is subject to the government's approval.Goh also said that the number forecast is a sunset industry as it is preferred among adults above 50."Malaysia is one of the oldest countries to operate the industry but we are getting fewer punters among youngsters.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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