Conflicting Laws in India’s Online Fantasy Gaming

India saw the highest number of game downloads in the world, with 7.3 billion installs, during the first three quarters of 2020.

A major part of the online gaming industry is the online fantasy league gaming, which can be played with or without real money on several apps developed by MPL, Dream11, and Nazara. The Indian gaming industry is small in comparison to the global market based on the dollar spent per player.

Gambling or betting is a State subject and each State is permitted to frame its own laws The Central Government, various State Governments, and the judiciary, each have taken different views on the legality of this nascent, rising sector, and wading through differing and changing regimes is often chaotic and destabilizing for entrepreneurs and business managers.

Money-based online fantasy gaming is not gambling, and, moreover, that it is constitutionally protected as a fundamental right to livelihood. The courts have reasoned that money-based online fantasy sports are a game of skill, where a player’s success depends on his adroitness, attention, experience, superior knowledge, and training, and not on mere chance. Therefore, online fantasy sports cannot be classified as gambling or betting.

Gaming industry entrepreneurs and business managers have to wrestle with the current maze created by an inadequate central law, hostile State laws, and an evolving judicial landscape, instead of being able to focus on their businesses and giving end-users a better experience.

A uniform law specifically recognizing and regulating money-based online gaming. This would also provide the States with a strong and viable alternative to regulate the sector, instead of dealing with the sector through ancient gambling laws.

To know more about this issue, check out https://www.cnbctv18.com/views/online-fantasy-gaming-maze-of-fluctuating-and-conflicting-laws-8887691.htm