| INDIA LEGAL |July 22, 2019 27online gaming industry is believed to be
now around `20,000 crore annually.
But by far the most significant effort
has been made by Dr Shashi Tharoor,
who on December 28 last introduced the
Sports (Online Gaming and Prevention
of Fraud) Bill in Parliament. The Bill
focuses on bringing all online gaming in
sports under an umbrella gaming com-
mission. This legal commission would
govern and license the online sports
gaming market. Any number of specified
rules and regulations could be intro-
duced by this commission.
The second key issue that the Bill
focuses on is maintaining the integrity
of sports. The aim is to prevent any
sporting event or match from being
compromised due to match-fixing or
manipulation. It defines online sports
gaming as placing a bet on the whole or
partial outcome of a sports match via a
telecommunication device. This includes
mobile devices like smart phones and
desktop computers. Although no set of
rules has been decided yet, the potential
restrictions that the commission can
place include banning minors from
playing, introducing a maximum charge
for betting fees and limiting access to
credit for wagering.
So clearly, online gaming falls into
two categories at present in India: cards
and associated forms of gambling such
as casinos and sports. The 1867 Public
Gambling Act is still applicable thr -
ough out India, though each state now
has its own gambling act. There are at
least two states—Maharashtra and
Telangana—which have outlawed online
gaming, but there are others like Sikkim
and Nagaland which seem to welcome
it in the hope of generating some rev-
enue from it.T
haroor says: “The law must adopt
a regulatory appr oach and effec-
tively demarcate the lines of per-
missible conduct in the field of betting
or gaming. My Bill provides the frame-
work to make this possible.”
One of the key takeaways from his
stand in Parliament is that he feels that
when gaming is on in the country in
some shady manner or the other, then
there is an urgent need to regularise it
and earn revenue from it.
Many state governments have tried
this and several politicians seem to
agree with his views, including N Chan -d r a babu Naidu who wanted to try it out
in the Krishna basin in Andhra. While
the BJP had opposed Congress leader
Digvijaya Singh’s attempts to intr o duce
casinos in Khajuraho, it continues to
reap revenues from the same in Goa,
which it has ruled for the past two
terms. Though land and offshore casinos
have the benefit of direct exchange of
cash, they have also taken to online
gaming in a big way. They can guarantee
cash immediately for punters, which is
what matters.
The rise of e-wallets has also to some
extent solved the problems of punters
wagering online. Neteller and Skrill are
some of the popular e-wallets which
charge a small percentage to guarantee
safe online transactions. World Cup
cricket, of course, has been a boon for
those running online shops and it is
estimated that some seven prime sites
alone will rake in upwards of `1,500
crore as the cut in the stakes is a stan-
dard 10 percent. Raking in the moolah
has never seemed easier.Twitter: @indialegalmedia
Website: http://www.indialegallive.com
Contact: [email protected]The Public Gaming Act of 1867 natu-
rally makes no reference to online gam-
bling, but can it be used to put shack-
les on online gaming in India?
Apparently yes. It could be argued that
operating a gambling website in India
is deemed illegal under the terms of
this Act. It says that any property used
for gambling where the owner makes
money from the activity can be consid-
ered illegal. So we have frequent raids
on premises when computers and
smart phones are recovered by the
police. Though this is not a crime men-
tioned in law, this is proof if the police
want to use it.
Information Technology Act of 2000:
This too is related to online betting and
gaming. It makes provisions for variousoffences relating to online activity,
although again, there’s no specific
mention of online gambling being ille-
gal. However, it gives the Indian gov-
ernment the power to block foreign
websites. The government has used
this power to instruct internet service
providers to prevent Indian residents
from accessing certain foreign betting
and gaming sites, but we don’t actually
know how effective this has been or
which sites have been blocked.
The Foreign Exchange Management
Act (FEMA), 1999, too can come in
handy if the authorities are inclined to
use it. It was introduced to govern the
exch ange of foreign currencies.
Technically, depositing money in a
gambling site in a currency other than
rupees could be considered an
exchange of foreign currencies and
thus be covered by the Act.Gaming laws
Shashi Tharoor introduced the Sports
(Online Gaming and Prevention of Fraud)
Bill in Parliament last year. It focuses
on bringing all online gaming under
an umbrella gaming commission.UNI