Government’s planned regulations for online gaming may reportedly apply to all real-money games. According to a report in news agency Reuters, the prime minister’s office has opposed the proposal that only restricted games of skill but left out games of chance. The long-awaited regulations are expected to shape the future of India’s gaming business, which Redseer forecasts will be worth $7 billion by the year 2026 and are likely to be dominated by real-money games. Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital have recently financed Indian fantasy cricket businesses Dream11 and Mobile Premier League.
Earlier this year (in August), a government panel tasked with drafting the regulation proposed a new body to decide whether a game involves skill or chance. It called for registration requirements, know-your-customer norms and grievance redress mechanism for such games. However, later in October the PMO officials reportedly objected to this differentiation, calling for expanded oversight on all types of games.
Several states have banned these games
Chance games are considered akin to gambling, which is mostly banned across India. These were set to stay under the purview of individual state governments which would be free to regulate them. Differentiating games as skill or chance hasn’t been easy due to lack of legal clarity and contrasting court decisions. The report quotes officials as saying that online gaming may be considered as one activity/service with no distinction. The country’s apex court Supreme Court says that the card game rummy and certain fantasy games are skill-based and legal. However, many state governments differ with this view.
In October this year Tamil Nadu banned online games of chance, such as poker and rummy, as well as online gambling. Similar laws banning all online games, including games of skill, have been passed in Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Why the need to bring in a law
The drafting of the new regulations comes amid growing concerns that popularity of such games, particularly among young people, has led to addiction and financial losses. There have also been some reported cases of suicide in several states.
Earlier this year (in August), a government panel tasked with drafting the regulation proposed a new body to decide whether a game involves skill or chance. It called for registration requirements, know-your-customer norms and grievance redress mechanism for such games. However, later in October the PMO officials reportedly objected to this differentiation, calling for expanded oversight on all types of games.
Several states have banned these games
Chance games are considered akin to gambling, which is mostly banned across India. These were set to stay under the purview of individual state governments which would be free to regulate them. Differentiating games as skill or chance hasn’t been easy due to lack of legal clarity and contrasting court decisions. The report quotes officials as saying that online gaming may be considered as one activity/service with no distinction. The country’s apex court Supreme Court says that the card game rummy and certain fantasy games are skill-based and legal. However, many state governments differ with this view.
In October this year Tamil Nadu banned online games of chance, such as poker and rummy, as well as online gambling. Similar laws banning all online games, including games of skill, have been passed in Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Why the need to bring in a law
The drafting of the new regulations comes amid growing concerns that popularity of such games, particularly among young people, has led to addiction and financial losses. There have also been some reported cases of suicide in several states.
For all the latest Technology News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! TechNewsBoy.com is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
