MUMBAI: The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), the regulatory authority for gaming in India, has requested top political parties in the country such as the BJP and the Congress to include the central regulation of online gaming in their party manifestos ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019 elections, IANS reports.
“It is commendable that the two main political parties have looked at inclusiveness and suggestions from people in their manifestos. We wanted to highlight this critical issue of regulation in the online gaming industry, that has long been ignored but is the need of the hour. Hence, we have sent our suggestions to the respective committees highlighting benefits that will accrue to all stakeholders,” AIGF CEO Roland Landers stated.
In December 2018, veteran Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor had introduced the Sports (Online Gaming and Prevention of Fraud) Bill in the Lok Sabha, which targets introducing an effective administration to maintain the integrity of sports in India by preventing and penalising sports fraud and for regulation of online sports gaming.
The AIGF aims at being a forum of discussion and research on policies and standards created for the industry to follow by bringing all its stakeholders on one platform.
The organization is aiming to promote online gaming for the twin purpose of earning more revenues for the country as well as eradicate crimes such as match fixing and money laundering, if tax policies and laws on it are improved.
However, gaming has been treated more at the state level than the central level in India, with many gaming laws outdated.
In July 2018, the 21st Law Commission in its 276th report said, “legalising betting and gambling is not desirable in India in the present scenario. Therefore, the state authorities must ensure enforcement of a complete ban on unlawful betting and gambling.”
“However, incapability to enforce a complete ban has resulted in rampant
increase in illegal gambling, resulting in a boom in black money generation and circulation. Since it is not possible to prevent these activities completely, effectively regulating them remains the only viable option,” it said.
The AIGF is hopeful to succeed as it made an impact last month through its written letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year. It accused gambling websites based abroad of ‘luring and accepting bets from Indian citizens.’
The letter had requested the PM to instruct the Enforcement Directorate to crack down on payment processing services that facilitated financial transactions between Indian punters and nine international online betting sites.
As a result, UK-listed Paddy Power’s Betfair brand have stopped taking bets on their site in India since 28 January. Indian punters attempting to access Betfair now get a message that they reside in ‘a country that Betfair does not accept bets from’.
