<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/sep/28zsp.jpg" alt="" /> Zavaray, or ZSP as he is known, is willing to put his money where his mouth is
Former chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) and billionaire Zavaray Poonawalla has offered the state government Rs 50 crore from his considerable personal wealth to persuade it to reduce racing betting tax in Western India (Pune and Mumbai) from 20 per cent &mdash; the highest in the country &mdash; to 5 per cent.
Zavaray told mid-day that his offer is an attempt to save RWITC &ldquo;from a probable situation of sinking&rdquo;. &ldquo;I proposed this during the Poonawalla Breeders Multi Million event in Mumbai this February, when I met Manu Kumar Srivastava, principal secretary, revenue and forest department, and KP Bakshi, additional chief secretary, home, both government nominees to the RWITC committee.&rdquo;
Zavaray said he apprised the officials of how the high betting tax was killing the club. &ldquo;I said if they could help the club from sinking, I was prepared to put forward R50 crore of my money. They said if it helps the government and the club, they will consider my proposal.&rdquo; 'Advisory' sent Bakshi denied receiving such an offer. Yet, there is an &lsquo;advisory&rsquo; by the RWITC addressed to Srivastava, dated March 26, which lists Zavaray&rsquo;s offer. Page 7 of the letter, titled Proposal to optimise revenue for the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) by the Rationalisation of Totalisators Betting Tax, reads, &ldquo;You may wonder&hellip; whether (RWITC) will be able to honour the Minimum Guarantee promised. To this I, in my personal capacity, have promised the &lsquo;GoM&rsquo; that I shall be financing the RWITC and&hellip; I shall make up for the deficit up to a period of five years...&rdquo; Poor payoffs Along with a betting tax of 20 per cent, punters in Mumbai and Pune have to pay an additional 10 per cent fee towards the club&rsquo;s expenditure. Simply put, from a R100 bet, R30 is deducted and the winner gets to keep R70.
&ldquo;The dividend is comparatively very low,&rdquo; said Zavaray. &ldquo;People tend to use illegal means of betting due to which the club loses revenue.&rdquo;
Zavaray felt that if the betting tax is reduced to 5 per cent, collections will go up. &ldquo;It needs to go up multi-fold to cover the government revenue of R18 crore a year. This will not happen in a year.&rdquo;
He claimed that the proposal has been stuck for months owing to the failure to enforce the goods and services tax. 'Publicity stunt' Zavaray detractors dubbed the offer a publicity stunt. Undeterred, he said, &ldquo;The racing fraternity has supported me, but there are a few people who would rather prefer the club going down.&rdquo;
The billionaire, who stepped down from RWITC&rsquo;s committee this year owing to ill health, said he is aware that his offer is a &ldquo;gamble&rdquo;. &ldquo;But how many years do I have to live? I want to do something for the club and the horses before I go.&rdquo; Timely intervention: Expert Racing expert Prakash Gosavi lauded the proposal. &ldquo;It is the only way to bring down the club&rsquo;s losses,&rdquo; he said, adding that the club should have concentrated on forming a lobby to influence the government in bringing down taxes all these years.
As for the R50-crore of personal wealth, an aficionado said Zavaray is so wealthy that he can &ldquo;give it and forget about it&rdquo;.

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Home / Mumbai / Mumbai News / Article / Billionaire offers Maharashtra govt Rs 50cr to reduce betting tax on horse racing

Billionaire offers Maharashtra govt Rs 50cr to reduce betting tax on horse racing

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