The majority ownership of Rank Group in Indian rummy operator Passion Gaming has been purchased by Bobby Garg, Priya Kumar and their co-founders.
Stride Investments paid $5.0m in 2017 (PS3.9m/EUR4.6m), for 51% of Passion Gaming. Rank then inherited this stake after Stride acquired Rank in October 2019.
Bobby Garg, Priya Kumar and the co-founders Passion Gaming will buyback their holding. The financial terms of the agreement were not made public.
Rank announced that it would sell its Passion Gaming stake when it posted its Q1 Results in April but didn’t reveal who the buyer was.
Passion is “fully autonomous” in pursuing the vision of RummyPassion.com
Passion Gaming is the operator of RummyPassion.com, which boasts more than 10 million players. Stride initially acquired a stake with the intention of expanding the business into India. The original deal also included the provision for Stride to purchase the remaining 41% within three to five year.
The co-founder Kumar stated that obtaining full ownership would allow Passion Gaming “to pursue [its] vision in full autonomy”.
Garg said: “We have an optimistic outlook for the future of skill gaming in India.” We are navigating the complexity of taxation, and we hope for a positive regulation in the skill gaming sector. Our goal is to have 10 crores (100 millions) users registered on Rummy passion over the next 3 years. This will allow us to take a leadership position in the Indian rummy industry.
Passion Gaming wins GST claim stay
Passion Gaming is one of the 71 businesses that were hit with a large tax bill after the Indian government applied the Goods and Services Tax to online gambling. The Goods and Council Tax Council applied a 28% tax to the value of the bets in July last year, resulting in a large bill for Indian operators.
It was determined that this would apply retroactively, and tax bills were sent to 71 operators including Passion Gaming. Across the 71, this totalled INR1.2 lakh crores (PS112.25bn/EUR132.82bn/$143.72bn).
Passion claimed to be the sole operator who received a GST Council demand order, a notice asking that the tax be paid. It challenged this order at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The order was temporarily suspended.
The Indian Government must adopt fair taxation policy
Super Group, an international operator, has already left India due to the new tax. Passion, an operator in India, continues to demand a change to the tax system.
Garg stated that “we hope the government takes advantage of this opportunity and puts India at the forefront in the global gaming industry by encouraging entrepreneurship for skill gaming, as well as implementing fair taxation policy.”
We’re confident that the sector of skill gaming can flourish with our commitment to protecting players. “We have faith in our progressive government which, we believe, can regulate skill gaming and differentiate it from gambling.”
GST Council did not discuss gambling tax in its June meeting. Next meeting is in August.
