Opinionated blog by Cheena Khanna
INTRODUCTION
Sports and sports-related activities are extremely popular among Indians. Online gaming has given Indian sports a boost, transforming physical sports into virtual sports, e-games, e-sports, online games, fantasy sports, and so on. In India, there are currently no specialised internet gaming or online gambling legislation. Similarly, there is currently no separate fantasy sports law in India. This is in keeping with existing gaming rules such as online poker, online rummy, online lotteries, and so on, which are currently unregulated in India. The natural outcome is that online card games in India are in limbo, with legal issues.
From basic pre-installed Solitaire to video games like PUBG, online gaming has a wide range of options. In India, digital gaming/gambling is still a grey subject because Indian courts have yet to rule on it. Indian law divides gaming into two categories: skill games and chance games.
The Indian Constitution's State List includes 'betting and gaming.' Only a few states, however, have taken steps to regulate this sector. Sikkim is the first Indian state to have passed legislation regulating digital gambling and sports betting.
The Public Gambling Act, 1867, adopted by the Centre, is one of several gaming-related legislation established by both the Centre and the States. However, because these rules were created before the advent of internet gaming, they only apply to physical gaming and gambling in places that are classified as "gaming or common gaming houses."
❖ Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008 This Act allows a person to apply for a state licence to operate a gaming establishment. The State of Sikkim enacted the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Rules, 2009, which allow online games such as roulette, blackjack, pontoon, punto banco, bingo, casino brag, poker, poker dice, baccarat, Chemin-de-for, backgammon, keno, and super pan 9 once a licence has been given. These games are also safe, secure, and fair, thanks to the Sikkim Rules.
❖ Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act, 2015 This Act gives the state the authority to issue a licence for skill games. The Act's main goal is to outlaw gambling and to regulate and promote "online games of skill" in Nagaland when the State Government issues a licence for specified online games that may be played in a legally controlled environment.
❖ Telangana State Gaming (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 The purpose of this Ordinance is to make major changes to the Telangana State Gambling Act, 1974 (Gaming Act) so that it may be used for online gaming.
The Karnataka Government recently proposed to move a bill to regulate all clubs in Karnataka, titled "Karnataka Regulation of entry to public places and regulation of clubs Bill 2016," which, among other things, aims to prohibit any type of gaming inside the club as well as illegal activities (there is no further explanation as to what constitutes other illegal activities and what constitutes gaming); the same definitions are also mentioned in the Karnataka Police Act & the provision. "Any club found guilty of carrying on gaming, gambling, etc., the licence shall be revoked, and lands supplied to such clubs on concession, the lease shall be revoked," the measure continues.
CONCLUSION
A workable approach might take the shape of a core substantive regulation that includes specific, forceful, and objective definitions of "skill-based" and "purely chance-based" games, as well as a timetable that explains each game in detail. The power to frame procedures regulating betting and gambling can be retained by states as an extension to the Central Act, similar to the Centre-state interface concerning gaming laws in Spain (which closely resembles India's quasi-federal structure), thereby resolving the challenges posed by innumerable interpretations of the substantive provisions of the act across the states.
The status of sports as a state topic in the Indian Constitution may constitute a barrier to the proposed national law's implementation. The concept of "online gaming" is, nevertheless, sufficiently separate from "sports." Furthermore, because "online gaming" is not included in any of the three lists of the Indian Constitution's Seventh Schedule, the authority to act on such a unique issue reside with the Centre. The exercise of such powers by the centre, along with the ability for states to pass procedural laws, would undoubtedly aid in the resolution of state legislative inconsistencies and enable potential investments in the Indian online gambling business.
REFERENCE
● https://ssrana.in/corporate-laws/gaming-and-sports-laws-india/online-gaming/#:~:text =In%20India%2C%20online%20gaming%20is,government%2C%20it%20is%20not %20prohibited
● https://www.icsi.edu/media/portals/22/Gaming%20Laws.pdf
● https://bwgamingworld.com/online-gaming-laws-in-india-an-obstruction-in-path-of-p rospective-investment/