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GOI To Regulate Skill And Chance Based Games Under One Law?

New reports suggest that the proposed regulation for online real-money gaming would cover skill and chance-based games. The move comes after the Prime Minister’s office rejected a proposal to only regulate games of skill while completely excluding games of chance from the regulation.

A research firm named Redseer, suggested that by the year 2026, India’s gaming industry would be worth $7 billion, and will be dominated by real-money games. Additionally, the sector has also received investments from foreign investors, such as Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, which recently invested in Indian fantasy platforms Dream11 and Mobile Premier League (MPL). In such situations, the central government-issued regulations are eagerly awaited as they will help mould the future of the industry.

In August this year, an Indian panel was assigned the responsibility of drafting the regulation proposing the creation of a new body that would determine if a game involves skill or chance. Based on the findings of the body, skill games would be governed by federal rules such as registration requirements, know-your-customer (KYC) standards, grievance redressal mechanism while games of chance would be regulated by the respective state governments.

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Currently, games of chance that are compared to gambling and are prohibited in India. The state governments are free to regulate them as per their legislation. However, a representative from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office opposed the current laws during a government meeting held on 26th October. The representative further reportedly called for expanded monitoring of all games.

The official stated that due to a lack of legal clarity and conflicting court rulings, labeling games as skill-based or chance-based becomes difficult. He added, “Online gaming may be considered as one activity/service with no distinction.”

According to the Supreme Court, rummy and a few other fantasy games are recognised as skill-based and are allowed under law But state governments have a different opinion on poker and other similar games. It is said that the new rules will give the central government more control over all types of games and at the same time state governments can retain their power of banning gambling or games of chance in their respective states. 

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Media reports also suggest that the rising popularity of these online games, among young people, has led to addiction, financial losses, and even suicides. Subsequently, to tackle these issues the creation of new regulations was needed.

Government sources also claimed that the Modi-led administration is still troubled by the possibility of addiction to online gaming platforms. In a report published in August 2022, the government had proposed that new regulations should include measures that will help prevent addiction to these online games.

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