Betting has always been a part of our gaming since times immemorial, Guest Posting training collar to remind the Indian unbelievable, the Mahabharatha. Since that time it took so many forms and shapes to be an inclusive part of gaming. Recently, and especially post lockdown, we have seen a huge shift in the Indian gaming industry. The improvement in facilities facilities, the increase in internet consumption by people and the exposure for a wide range of games opened the entranceway for online betting and wagering. It has seen the trend of several new games like online rummy, poker, cricket fantasy games, etc and given the opportunity to entrepreneurs Slot Online across the world to expand their territory in the Indian market with the help of game outsourcing tools companies like RubixQ. But are all of them legal?
In This summer 2020, a 20-year-old parlour employee who makes body art had to hang himself for not being able to pay the ¹20, 000 which he lost on a gaming iphone app. This isn’t the first time such incidents happened. The dependence on betting, be it in the real world or online, has the capacity for messing up a person’s life and eventually after the debts mount upon them, it can lead to any drastic decisions like suicides. It is why high courts across the states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, decided to ban online betting games proactively before the number of such incidents rises. In September 2020, Andhra Pradesh government declared online betting to be illegal. Instead of banning them, it made such activities an offence the ones can be prosecuted when caught playing. These moves are made in a manner to turn people from betting than preventing them altogether.
The Indian gaming laws categorize games broadly into two types – the game of skill and the game of chances in which the latter has the betting. This is why why Google had to take out Paytm from the play store a while back, for violating the betting policies and being the games of chances, whereas apps like Dream 11 are thought as games of skill. The Central government has no legislation for betting, the legislation of wagering and gamblings lies in the hands of state governments and most of them have an exemption for games of skill. Recently Maharashtra government went to the Best Court to redefine what a game of skill is and what a game of chance is, and where the fantasy games come under. The best court took up this and called for reveal report on it. If it passes the rule in the favor of fantasy games, that industry flowers like no time before. Otherwise, they have to power down.
Also, there’s another discussion boating for having hats on betting like ¹100 or ¹200 a day and there’ll be a cap for winning too accordingly. When the profits are huge like in lakhs, the cap can increase up to ¹5, 000 – ¹10, 000. But then, the argument here is for the sounding taxation for these games. If the profits are in lakhs, though the companies are paying GSTs, the tax paid by winners is considerably less. So, they will be looking at increasing this to a higher rate of tax for these activities.
According to research, the gaming industry in Of india will be worth $150billions and in the worst-case scenario, corporates involved in it would only want regulations, not bans. For example, horse racing bettings are regulated, casinos in Goa and Sikkim are regulated. There’s another angle to this whole debate – psychological impact. There was a case where a scholar of age 12, got dependent on betting and eventually caught taking, lying, losing control to end betting sessions, getting unreasonably angry, etc. According to health experts, betting is a behavioural addiction and possesses its side effects of eating into the regular areas of functions. It may end up in anxiety, impulse control issues, tempers management issues, etc. So, with mental health staying at position, the ban is justified.
In economics point of view, legalization of these games with nuanced regulations and reasonable taxations can be effective, as governments can then have control over those activities. Otherwise, gamblings can happen in different form or manner and hoard a lot of black money that go unseen. There are some international examples like the UK Betting Act of 2005 where they have a licensing program for the 4-5 game categories. However, considering the facts that the industry is still in a nascent stage and the huge number of players, it is a strenuous task for governments to modify the game of chances.