Govt. amends rules regulating online real money gaming

Source: The post is based on the article “Govt. amends rules regulating online real money gaming” published in The Hindu on 6th April 2023

What is the News?

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has notified rules regarding online gaming under the Information Technology Rules,2021.

How do the new rules define an online game?

The new rules define an ‘online game’ as “a game that is offered on the internet and is accessible by a user through a computer resource or an intermediary”. 

What are self-regulatory organizations (SROs)?

As per the rules, the government will appoint multiple self-regulatory organizations (SROs) comprising industry representatives, educationists and other experts such as child experts, psychology experts, and so on. To begin with, the government will notify three SROs. 

SROs will be responsible for declaring online games permissible on the basis of whether games allow wagers. The SRO can declare online real money games as permissible if it is satisfied that “the online real money game does not involve wagering on any outcome”. 

What are the games banned?

The new rules for online gaming prohibit any game that involves betting and wagering. Permissibility will be determined with the simple principle of whether wagering is involved

SRO can declare online real money games as permissible if it is satisfied that the online real money game does not involve wagering on any outcome.

What do the rules say about the role of intermediaries?

The rules ​​make it obligatory on the part of intermediaries to make a reasonable effort to not host, publish or share any online game that can cause the user harm, or that has not been verified as a permissible online game by an online gaming self-regulatory body/bodies designated by the Central Government.

The intermediary will also have to ensure that no advertisement or surrogate advertisement or promotion of an online game that is not a permissible online game, is hosted on its platform.

What is the significance of these rules?

The uniform legal framework provided by these rules will boost investor confidence. This will also help reduce regulatory fragmentation at the state level as also, create a more stable business environment and weed out gambling platforms.