Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT), the powerful trade body, that represents eight crore traders and over 40,000 trade associations has expressed concerns about the recently proposed bill in the Karnataka assembly that is aimed at banning and criminalising online gaming. According to them, Should it be enforced, it will harm the Indian startup sector, the Indian gaming and animation industry and millions of Indian gamers and esports players.
The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on September 17 to ban online gaming or betting by amending the Karnataka Police Act of 1963, precribing maximum imprisonment of three years and penalty up to ₹1 lakh.
In the recent episode of G2G news’ flagship video series “Game on with Jay Sayta”, the host touched upon his entrepreneurial journey, his overseas experience vis-a-vis real money gaming segment, his views on regulations and his plans ahead.
Amid litigations, crackdowns and bans, online gaming involving stakes has frequently attracted the ire of Southern India. Karnataka is the recent entry in the list of its southern neighbours to bring in a legislation banning online betting and gambling in the upcoming Legislature session starting on Monday.
The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, drafted with an aim to ban online gambling, proposes a prison term of up to three years and a fine as high as Rs 3 Lakh for violators.
The state government in July had informed the High Court, hearing a petition seeking a ban on all forms of online betting and gambling, that it had drafted a bill.
The online gaming sector is also looking forward to the setting up of a council of ministers to explore an alternative tax structure for goods and services. There is still disagreement as to whether these firms should be taxed on the overall amount of money that consumers spend on competitions or only on the fees that these platforms charge.
Centre's affidavit was filed in a plea seeking a ban on online gaming sites. It argues that the petitioner has failed to implead state governments as parties to the case. It also states that proper adjudication would not be possible unless the respective state governments are part of the proceedings.
While the government’s acknowledgment of strategizing a centralized approach to regulate gambling and betting sites is a significant move, the states of India are changing their local gambling laws. Furthermore, the online gaming industry is getting court orders for the same, thereby, creating more hurdles in restricting gambling and activities that require a skill.
The senior leader's comments came after Madras High Court, on 3 August 2021, lifted the ban on online games for stakes in the state. He added that the advertisements about online gaming are luring people into it.
The Tamil Nadu government’s effort to protect its youth from the temptations of online gambling by amending a gaming law to ban online rummy and poker has not survived judicial scrutiny. Played for a wager, bet, money, or stake these games turned out to be highly addictive to a level where people even placed bets on rooster fights from all over the world.
There is a lot of debate on whether rummy and the likes of it played on digital platforms are games of skills or games of chance. Sadly in spite of rigorous education programs and awareness campaigns, a huge number of the Indian population and some state governments consider rummy a game of chance.
The petitioner argued that several youngsters were addicted to playing online rummy especially due to the lockdowns. He also added that health was affected by constant online gaming, leading to suicide in some cases. Thus using the grounds for a ban on such online games.
