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AIGF Lauds MeitY For Bringing Regulatory Clarity Through Online Gaming Rules

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) today, notified the amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 in relation to online gaming. Welcoming this move, Roland Landers, CEO, All India Gaming Federation, said, “As the oldest, largest, and most diverse industry association for online gaming in the country, we are grateful to MeitY for notifying the amendments to regulate online gaming under the Indian Information Technology Act, and acknowledging the long-standing demand of the gamers and the online gaming industry.”

Roland Landers, AIGF, CEO

“We believe this is a decisive first step for comprehensive regulation for online gaming and, will propel the industry to compete globally, as envisioned by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. We are especially grateful that the Government recognised the industry demands and provided light touch, but comprehensive regulations, which will support innovation, boost Create in India and Brand India, and propel India’s Techade. These rules will go a long way in promoting consumer interest while helping the industry grow responsibly and transparently and will also help in curbing the menace of anti-national and illegal offshore gambling sites, which have been proliferating in the last few years.”

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“We look forward to assisting the industry transition to the self-regulatory model envisioned under the rules and use learnings from the years of work that has been undertaken at the All India Skill Games Council (AIGSC), the oldest and largest voluntary self-regulatory body for online gaming.

The Government has maintained a very open and transparent approach throughout this process and heard various stakeholders across the online gaming eco-system, since May 2022. At AIGF are committed to continue our engagement and provide complete support to the government in making online gaming a cornerstone of $1 trillion digital Indian economy.”

Jaya Chahar, Founder and CEO, Trade Fantasy Game

“The appointment of SRO’s is a welcoming and firm step by MeiTY towards regulating the online gaming space. The appointment will eliminate the confusion between legitimate online gaming players and offshore betting websites. This will bring further clarity to the Indian gaming industry which is at the cusp of exponential growth.”

Jaya Chahar and Deepak Chahar

Jay Sayta, Technology and Gaming Lawyer 

“The amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules pertaining to online gaming were notified and published in the official gazette today (6th April, 2023).  Concerns raised by me in January 2023, when the draft rules were released, that the rules go beyond the scope of the parent legislation, i.e., the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the legislative powers of state to govern such online games remain. It is also not clear whether the rules framed under the powers to prescribe due diligence requirements for intermediaries, i.e., those providers not responsible for providing content can be applied to online gaming platforms that actively decide and offer their own gaming content, in the manner that the central government is seeking to apply to them.

Further, the rules do not clearly define online real money games to be games involving predominant or substantial degree of skill and the rules do not clearly demarcate games involving substantial degree of skill, which are legal and constitutional activities as separate from games of chance or gambling/betting activities.

The problem is compounded further by the fact that the rules leave decision as to the permissibility of a game to be legitimate game to the vagaries of ‘Self-Regulatory Bodies’ who are further required to not permit any online real money game that involve ‘wagering on any outcome’. Compounding the confusion, the central government has not clarified or made any provision in the rules that clarify or state that staking money on games classified as skill-based games would be permitted.

Jay Sayta

On the positive side, according to the new rules, intermediaries such as hosting providers, news websites, social media websites, search engines etc. cannot host any game that is not recognised as a permissible online game by a self-regulatory body (primarily targeted at offshore betting portals) and cannot publish any advertisement or surrogate advertisement or promotion of an online game that is not a permissible online game (i.e. gambling/betting games or platforms).

The new rules are therefore expected to curb the menace of illegal offshore betting and gambling websites and their surrogates that are openly flouting the law and advertising through various means. The new rules would help in stopping promotional content of offshore betting websites and pave the way for swift blocking of domains and websites/apps engaged in illegal gambling or betting.

As per Rule 4B of the new rules, most of the obligations and compliance requirements for online gaming companies do not come into force immediately, and would kick in only three months after three self-regulatory bodies are approved by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology or as and when the central government notifies.”

About All India Gaming Federation

AIGF is the apex industry body for online gaming in India. Being the oldest, largest and the most diverse industry association for online gaming, AIGF currently has more than 120 online gaming companies and game developers across esports, fantasy gaming, card games, casual gaming, and other formats as members, with a combined user base of over 400 million users. It collectively represents the majority of skill gaming operators, including a significant portion of the Indian online gaming MSME sector. Since its inception in 2016, AIGF has been at the forefront to demonstrate the importance and benefits of regulating the online gaming industry.

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