All India Gaming Federation, the apex body for online skill gaming industry, has onboarded three principal members namely, Myteam11, Head Digital and Glance Gaming. With this development, AIGF has successfully crossed 100+ members across all gaming formats including esports, fantasy gaming, card games, casual gaming, e-games and virtual gaming.
Being the oldest, largest and the most diverse industry association for online gaming, AIGF collectively represents the majority of the skill gaming operators across all gaming formats, including a significant portion of the Indian online gaming MSME sector. The apex body also drives conversations that protects interests of its members by creating awareness amongst the relevant stakeholders about the socio economic benefits of online skill gaming industry through representations, research reports, surveys, seminars and events.
Roland Landers, CEO, All India Gaming Federation, said, “We are happy to have Myteam11, Head Digital and Glance Gaming on-board and happy to share a combined vision of fostering innovations, ensuring global best practices and unravel many more aspects of this sunrise sector. We at AIGF has been working for over seven years and have been successful in getting on-board 100 plus members across verticals of the online gaming industry to address imperative challenges and reach a common goal of regulating all gaming formats.”
AIGF regulates all revenue formats of gaming – free to play, freemium, pay to play and play to earn and its self-regulatory charter that has robust standards for audit, certification and conduct for its members and user safety, is overseen by an independent Online Skill Gaming Council (SGC).
He further added, “The Indian online skill gaming industry has come a long way and is heavily buoyed by smartphone penetration, India’s massive youth population, growing internet penetration and the affordability of smartphones. The sector is expected to become bigger than the film industry of India. The online skill gaming will be a cornerstone of Digital India and contribute to the vision of $1 trillion digital economy. As the government recognises this potential the Supreme Court of India and multiple High Courts have also unequivocally held that games of skill are legal, and even if played for stakes, are protected under the Constitution of India. AIGF reaffirms government’s vision of establishing transparency, integrity, and responsible gaming across all facets of the sector.
“Indian online mobile gaming is a $1.5 billion sunrise sector with 38% CAGR and is set to reach $5 billion by 2025. It is evident from the past two decades, that Indian online gaming sector has grown in tandem with innovation in game design, gaming platforms and digital technologies. I believe that with advent of Web3, there will be multiple use cases of gaming in metaverse, gamified education and skilling. Hence it is imperative to establish regulatory framework that fosters and supports innovation. In alignment to this, we at AIGF have also instituted an Online Games of Skill Charter covering aspects relevant for a standardized approach to the industry and user protection,” he added.
Since its inception in 2016, AIGF has been at the forefront, working with relevant legislative, judiciary and executive to highlight the economic & social benefits that accrue from the online skill gaming industry. One of the most notable practices that they follow is, ‘Skill Games Charter’ released in 2018 which ensures player protection and responsible gaming practices, including guidelines for advertising. Through the adoption of principles and the disciplinary process, it demonstrates the importance of its self-regulation mechanism and seeks to build a self-regulatory community and facilitative ecosystem for the offer of online transactional games of skill in a transparent and fair manner, with due regard for consumer and stakeholder interests.