Online Gaming: Online gaming is spreading very fast all over the world. In India too, it has expanded very fast and is continuously spreading. In such a situation, online gaming has some advantages and some disadvantages, for which the demand for making government rules has started rising.
Recently, an expert committee constituted by Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) has emphasized the need to formulate a strong and nationally consistent rule for online gaming. This committee stated in its report that online gaming is expanding rapidly in India, creating challenges related to the safety of users and financial risks.
Highlights of this report
The report of the expert committee states that in 2023, there were 56 crore 80 lakh online gamers in India and more than 9.5 billion gaming apps were downloaded, which is 15 percent of the total mobile game downloads in the world. A balanced regulatory framework i.e. a regulatory body is required to ensure the safety of online gamers in this rapidly growing sector.
Regulatory challenges
Currently, different states have enacted their own laws for online gaming, leading to varying interpretations of skill-based gaming. For example, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Telangana have abolished exemptions for skill-based gaming, while some states like Nagaland have enacted their own laws to regulate online gaming.
The need for nationally consistent regulation
The expert committee says that instead of having laws in different states for online gaming, there should be a regulatory body at the national level. Consistent regulation at the national level will not only ensure the safety of online gamers, but it will also provide clarity and stability in the online gaming industry.
The committee also suggested that policymakers should ensure that regulatory measures designed to protect online gamers do not infringe on any freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.
Government steps
Talking about the steps taken by the Government of India so far in the matter of online gaming, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology took steps to regulate online gaming by introducing amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (Online Gaming Rules) in April 2023.
However, the expert committee believes that these rules need to be made more consistent and strong. Now it remains to be seen what steps the Indian government takes for the online gaming industry in the coming times.
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