Indian Government Should Regulate and Not Ban Online Gaming Industry

State governments should introduce exclusive policies to regulate online games instead of resorting to blanket bans as such measures would only boost illegal gaming activities in the country, The Online Rummy Federation (TORF) has said.

The gaming industry firmly believed that some controls were imperative, particularly in terms of identifying and weeding out illicit and unscrupulous players, TORF said.

Despite the ban, Telangana reported a massive illegal online gambling racket, worth more than ₹1,200 crore, run by a Chinese firm.

It may be noted that Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala had banned online rummy.

“We, the industry, want to partner with the government to introduce the right mechanism, based on the tenets of responsible gaming. To start with, state governments should come out with an effective forward-looking online skill gaming policies,’’ Mr. Sameer Barde, CEO of TORF said.

India’s online gaming industry, led by players like Dream 11, Games 24×7, MPL and PaytmOne, is expected to reach $3 billion by 2022. In the last five years, the sector attracted over $350 million in venture capital investments from Tiger Global, Sequoia, Raine, Tencent, Kalaari, Chryscapital, Matrix.

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