BENGALURU: The mobile and online games industry in India, currently pegged at Rs 9-12 billion, is growing at 60-70 per cent, according to Trivikraman Thampy, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Play Games24x7.
Thampy told the Hindu Businessline in an interview that the phenomenon of social gaming in India too is growing at a rapid pace, at over 100 per cent a year, because of the proliferation of smartphones and now extremely cheap data, driven largely by Jio. “A future growth driver will be availability of mobile wallets as payment instruments on the Google Play Store, which is currently not available,” he said.
Players in the space are focusing on the social casino segment, Deepak Gullapalli, CEO, Head Infotech told the Businessline. “Social games are completely free and are not played for real money.Our focus is on innovation and not replication, which is why we are developing games inspired by the local community games prevalent across India,” Gullapalli, who has recently launched a social gaming vertical Witty Games India, said.
While rummy, offered by most online game operators, has been adjudged a game of skill and is allowed to be played for stakes by the Supreme Court, poker and Fantasy Cricket are two other games that are being offered under the skill gaming banner in India. “While neither of these have been examined by the SC yet, the Karnataka High Court has declared poker as a game of skill and the Punjab High Court has declared fantasy sports as a game of skill. The Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act, 2016 also states that poker, fantasy sports, and rummy are games of skill and has regulated them. The gaming law of Bengal exempts poker from penal provisions of the gambling Act. No games of chance are offered for stakes in India,” Thampy is quoted as saying.
The operators are “a self-regulated market, striving to emulate the practices in the developed markets of the West”, says Gullapalli. The players are now planning to create a neutral regulatory body — The Rummy Federation (TRF), which can set guidelines for all online rummy operators and bring in transparency and integrity to this industry, he said.
