The government of the southern state of India — Karnataka, home to India’s silicon valley also known as Bangalore, has proposed a law to ban online games and gaming activities including elements of wagering and gambling with an end goal to check the expanding gambling habit among the rural youth populace.

The Karnataka government has moved a bill proposing an amendment to the “Karnataka police act” to incorporate online games, trying to ban “any act of risking money, or in any case on the unknown outcome of an occasion including on games of skill,” as indicated by the bill seen by Reuters.

The bill was proposed for the sole reason for “shielding” the rural adolescents from becoming “habitual gamblers.” According to the government authorities, the young populace from the rural areas of the state is left inactive due to covid pandemic incited lockdowns and remaining at home most days. While the bill looks amazing from the start, Karnataka isn’t the only state in India to ban online games including prize money and gambling components. It is the fourth state after Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh to present such a bill.

Note that the bill will straightforwardly influence India’s driving fantasy gaming platforms – dream11 and mobile premier league (MPL), which offer fantasy cricket and football match-ups with the possibility of money to be won. Some industry sources talked with Reuters and said:
Business of MPL, Dream11 and everybody in the sector will endure. These states are significant – they generally represent 20% of (the aggregate) business for such organizations.

Due to the coronavirus prompted lockdowns across the nation, the online gaming industry in India has developed altogether to the reason behind foreign investors showing incredible premium in gaming start-ups and investing funds. According to a report by the All India gaming federation, India as of now has over 400 online gaming start-ups and will have 550 million online gamers by 2022, a stunning development from the 360 million online gamers in 2020. The gaming business is expected to be worth more than $2 billion by 2023 making it the fourth-greatest gaming market after China, the USA, and the European Union (EU).

While the Dream11 and MPL platforms have developed extensively during a couple of years, legislation like these will straightforwardly hurt their plan of action and make it staggeringly hard for them to make money. Dream11 is likewise looking for a U.S. posting ahead of schedule one year from now which will become more enthusiastically after losing 20% of its all-out business because of the said gambling bills.

Sandeep Chilana, a New Delhi-based lawyer, talked with Reuters and said that these laws have a powerless legitimate standing given the supreme court has over and over said skill-based games – like fantasy cricket – dislike gambling which remains generally prohibited across India.

“Indian states are overextending and will confront legal difficulties by prohibiting such skill games,” said Chilana.
The possible boycott of probably India’s greatest sponsors of esports competitions will likewise hurt proficient players, said esports players welfare association, a non-profit for online gamers.

“Games and esports are areas where skill can be created because of which it’s anything but a transgression movement,” the group said.
The organizations influenced by such bills will probably form a gathering and move to the supreme court of India in the expectation for the court to strike down these laws and give legitimate safeguarding for the organizations from such bills later on.

Credits: Talkesport