Gaming people have the Monday blues!
Online gaming fears 28% GST could stunt growth
Yes! It seems Monday blues are here for gaming industry with govt’s plan to levy the highest GST slab on online gaming
A 28% GST could stunt the growth of online gaming firms and force fantasy sports firms to reduce the prize pools they offer, which could drive their big users to leave the platforms in search of bigger games.
The GST Council meets on 28 June to decide which slab will be applied.
How things work?
On fantasy sports platforms, players pay a participation fee to enter tournaments. These fees form the total prize pool of the tournament, and the platform takes a cut as commission for providing the service.
Currently, an 18% GST is levied on this fee, which is called the gross gaming revenue (GGR). However, firms are worried that the government will levy the 28% GST on the gross gaming value (GGV), which is the total money deposited by users.
Experts feel this might even force Indian gaming companies to move overseas and take jobs and revenues outside.
Supreme Court rulings in India deem that games of skill such as rummy will be considered legal and will not amount to gambling.
RIL in talks to raise up to $8 bn  for  Boots  deal
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is in talks with a clutch of global banks to raise $8 billion for its planned leveraged buyout of British pharma chain Boots.
Reliance is in talks with Barclays Bank Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank to buy the Boots drugstore chain.
A consortium of Apollo Global Management Inc. and Reliance made a binding offer for Boots earlier this month that valued Boots at more than $6.1 billion, Bloomberg News previously reported. Â
The business runs a network of more than 2,200 stores across the UK, as well as private-label brands like No7 Beauty Co. and operations in a smattering of other countries.
Source: Mint
Indians have lost ~ ₹1k cr in crypto scams. Oh!
Cybersecurity company CloudSEK reports that Indian victims have lost up to INR 1,000 Cr in various cryptocurrency scams so far. As investors shift their focus to the lucrative cryptocurrency markets, scammers and cheats turn their attention to them as well.
Modus Operandi
Fake crypto exchanges operated in a phased manner to dupe victims. These fake exchanges apparently registered fake domains that impersonated legitimate trading platforms. According to CloudSEK, these platforms emulated the dashboard and user experience to lure the victims.
The cybercriminals also created fake social media profiles under female aliases to lure victims and entice them into investing in cryptocurrencies. Afterwards, these so-called handles would share a $100 credit with the victim of the duplicate crypto exchange.Â
The victim would initially gain higher returns from the credit, post which the scammer would convince them to invest a higher amount, promising better returns. Once the victim added their own money to the wallet, the scammers would freeze the account and decamp with the money.
Source: Inc42