‘Government intervention will give regulation of online gaming a lot more teeth’

EGF welcomes MEITy's proposed guidelines to regulate online gaming, which includes pre-approval of games and preventing user harm. The move will help rein in illegal offshore gaming operations and provide a reliable environment for players to compete based on their skills. AI can help enhance the industry, subject to MEITy approval. The Indian gaming sector is estimated to reach ₹5 billion by 2025.

The E-Gaming Federation (EGF), a not-for-profit organisation to protect consumer interest and self-regulate the Indian gaming sector, has welcomed the recent guidelines proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) for regulation of the industry.

The Union government had proposed steps to regulate online gaming by way of amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Liability and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules.

“We welcome the amendment since this is exactly what the EGF has been trying to do for the last six to seven years. It proposes a self-regulatory authority, which will be independent of the gaming industry. A very significant proposal is the pre-approval of games through a process of testing and checking as may be necessary,” EGF secretary Malay Kumar Shukla told The Hindu on the sidelines of a function here on Monday.

Another focal area of the amendment is to prevent user harm. Earlier the industry was doing it on its own. The system that MEITy proposes would be strong enough to address the problem (of user harm) to a great extent, he said.

The biggest advantage of pre-approving games permissible in India is that it would rein in any illegal offshore gaming operations. Only on registration can the operators receive support from the entire ecosystem of payments and advertisements.

“Pre-approval of games is a very important since no operator who does not wish to test their games or is not confident about the games being permissible in India will involve in wagering on an outcome, which is chance-based. The government stepping in will give the regulation regime a lot of teeth,” said Mr. Shukla.

The mechanism under the MEITy would be able to address challenges posed by gaming and provide solutions. Issues such as user protection and social impact would be taken care of within the broad framework of preventing user harm.