Gambling sales are taxable, but you only apply GST to the margin between money received and prizes paid out.
To work out your margin for a tax period:
- work out the total amount you received in gambling event wagers for the period
- subtract the total monetary prizes you paid for the period.
If the total amount you received in wagers is more than the total amount of monetary prizes paid out, you must pay GST.
Example: Calculating your margin
Ronnie, a bookmaker, receives $86,000 in bets at the races and pays out $20,000 in cash prizes in one tax period. The margin on Ronnie's sales for GST purposes is $66,000 ($86,000 − $20,000).
Ronnie must pay $6,000 GST ($66,000 × (1 ÷ 11)) on gambling sales for this tax period.
End of example