{"id":192532,"date":"2022-06-25T20:27:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T14:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=192532"},"modified":"2022-06-25T20:38:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T15:08:28","slug":"need-to-formulate-a-structured-gaming-law-for-online-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/need-to-formulate-a-structured-gaming-law-for-online-gaming\/","title":{"rendered":"need to formulate a structured gaming law for online gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News:<\/strong> Due to evolving technologies, online gaming has swiftly emerged as the most engaging form of entertainment in India.<\/p>\n

About the Online gaming industry<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The online gaming including e-sports, online casual games<\/strong> and real money<\/strong> gaming. The industry has been growing at a rate of about 35% in 2019-20, outpacing OTT, television, and social media platforms.<\/p>\n

What are the reasons behind its emergence?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It has been propelled by younger demographics<\/strong>, increased internet penetration<\/strong>, and affordable smartphones<\/strong>. Nowadays, we are witnessing the mobile-first phenomenon<\/strong>,<\/p>\n

Legal Status<\/strong><\/p>\n

Globally<\/strong><\/p>\n

The gaming industry is a well-regulated industry,<\/strong> and many countries, including the UK, US, and EU, have instituted a regulatory framework.<\/p>\n

India<\/strong><\/p>\n

The games of skill<\/strong> (fantasy chess, bridge, rummy, and poker) are legal and protected under the Constitution.<\/p>\n

The games of chance<\/strong> (roulette, teen patti, and dice) are essentially about gambling<\/strong> and hence deemed illegal.<\/p>\n

As per the Indian Constitution<\/strong>, gambling is classified under the State List<\/strong>. States have the power to regulate or prohibit such activity.<\/p>\n

What are the challenges?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In online gaming, people are found to confuse<\/strong> the online real money gaming with the gambling.<\/p>\n

The state government has failed to distinguish between online skill-based gaming<\/strong> and gambling<\/strong>. Therefore, some states like Tamil Nau Government, which have either placed restrictions or buried the sunrise sector under regulatory ambivalence<\/strong>. For Example, the Tamil Nadu government amended the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws, 1930 banning online games<\/p>\n

Th \u201cgames of skill\u201d<\/strong> are legitimate business activities<\/strong> that are protected under Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution as per the rulings of the Supreme Court<\/strong> and several High Courts<\/strong> till date. These rulings have created distinction between \u201cgames of skill<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cgames of chance.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The Madras High Court<\/strong> struck down the Tamil Nadu law<\/strong> observing that a complete ban was unconstitutional. The Court acknowledged that a game involving substantial skill<\/strong> would not amount to gambling.<\/p>\n

India needs to formulate a structured gaming law <\/strong>that ensures online gaming is played responsibly<\/strong>, safely<\/strong>, transparently<\/strong> and securely<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A four-member committee<\/strong> has been constituted to examine issues related to online gaming, identification of online games<\/strong> which are addictive,<\/strong> and whether these games really involve skills or mere tricks. Further, it is mandated to make recommendations for the promulgation<\/strong> of an ordinance to regulate the sector.<\/p>\n

The committee will examine the algorithms<\/strong> of online games to ascertain whether they can be tweaked to the benefit of online gaming companies.<\/p>\n

The government policies<\/strong> and frameworks<\/strong> should aim to ensure player protection and increasing stakeholders\u2019 awareness and education.<\/p>\n

In addition to the government\u2019s regulations, the industry should also ensure responsible gaming<\/strong> and self-regulation<\/strong>. For example, EGF has designed and implemented code of conduct <\/strong>that requires operators to have features like KYC, SSL level encryption, risk-flagging mechanisms, daily and monthly restrictions, self-exclusion, and so on, to cultivate healthy gaming habits and encourages appropriate gaming behaviour.<\/p>\n

India needs to study the global best practices<\/strong> that protects players, encourages responsible gaming, and assists legitimate operators while weeding out those who break the law.<\/p>\n

The government should establish a dialogue mechanism between the government and the industry<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cWe need to formulate a structured gaming law that allows players to enjoy the thrills of online gaming responsibly, safely, transparently and securely\u201d<\/strong> published in the Indian Express<\/strong> on 25th<\/sup> June 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: Due to evolving technologies, online gaming has swiftly emerged as the most engaging form of entertainment in India. About the Online gaming industry The online gaming including e-sports, online casual games and real money gaming. The industry has been growing at a rate of about 35% in 2019-20, outpacing OTT, television, and social media… Continue reading need to formulate a structured gaming law for online gaming<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10308,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-192532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}