The state will earn a sum of Rs 14.89 crore as advance entertainment tax for the World Cup final match held on April 2. This, after it earned a comparatively smaller sum of Rs 35 lakh from the matches held in Nagpur, and Rs 35 lakh and Rs 87 lakh as entertainment tax from the matches held on March 13 and March 18.


Bus ferrying people from parking lot to stadium during the WC
finals. Pic/ Bipin Kokate

The big bucks mean thatu00a0 the World Cup may now be the biggest revenue spinner in terms of entertainment tax on matches this year. Interestingly, all the money is coming in after the revenue department decided to impose an entertainment tax on IPL, ODI and T20 matches in the month of April. The department had made slight changes in the calculation of entertainment tax after it found an anomaly in the tax charged for match tickets.

Earlier, match organisers would pay close to 33 per cent tax as the tax amount was based on the sale price of the ticket and not the original face value. For example, earlier, if a ticket was sold for Rs 500, entertainment tax of 25 percent was part of the ticket value; i.e. the organisers would have to cough up Rs 125.