In the light of new gaming rules announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), online gaming companies are now planning to approach several state governments regarding the implementation of these rules.
This comes due to recent stance of few states banning games that are permissible under the new online gaming rules. Industry bodies like E-Gaming Federation (EGF), All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) will approach state governments of Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, and Telangana on this issue.
EGF and AIGF will be including online skill gaming companies like Games24x7, Junglee Games, Zupee, GamesKraft, Paytm First Games and MPL while FIFS will include fantasy gaming platforms like Dream11, My11Circle,etc.
Speaking to Economic Times, an official from MeitY said, “The industry should “be able to go to the states and advocate that there is a new set of rules notified by the central government.”
“If there are some state governments that are not getting on board, the industry can flag it with the Centre, and the ministry will make the effort of raising it with the states thereafter,” they further added.
Tamil Nadu recently banned all form of online gaming that have any monetary aspect, which includes skill games like online rummy and poker. Due to this, online gaming films have ceased their operations in the state. A few more states are following the same method to outlaw online games.
MeitY to step in if states don’t change their stance
The new rules were announced back in April which clarified that while real money gaming will be allowed, games containing any form of wagering on an outcome will not be allowed. MeitY also announced self-regulatory organizations (SROs) which will make decisions regarding this matter.
Another executive from one of the gaming firms said, “If the lack of definition of wagering on an outcome is read together with laws of the land, and if state governments determine that a particular platform allows gambling, they can still potentially be banned.”
“MeitY officials have said they would step in and reach out to states if, even after companies approach them, there is no change in stance,” they concluded.