The topic of regulating online gaming especially ones that involve betting and money in it has been going around for some time now. The confused stand of the government on it and companies using loopholes to get around the current regulations have indeed created a need for a better system in order to keep everything in check.
So Union Minister for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s announcement that the Indian government is working on a framework to regulate online gaming is not very surprising.
The rising number of cases of addiction to online gaming, especially gambling and betting and furthermore the Gaming Conversion Racket that was exposed recently have made authorities look into this area more closely.
The racket reportedly involving a person called Shahnawaz Khan, and Abdul Rehman, had the two of them using online games to target children and convince them of changing their religion.
What Did The Union Minister Say?
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics, and Technology speaking to ANI stated that “For the first time, we have prepared a framework regarding online gaming, in that we will not allow three types of games in the country. Games that involve betting or can be harmful to the user and that involve a factor of addiction will be banned in the country.”
Although he did not mention exactly which games would be getting banned under this framework but according to Chandrasekhar the 3 types of games that will get banned are
- Games that involve betting
- Games can be harmful to the user
- Games that involve a factor of addiction
Read More: Real Horror Stories Of Online Gambling In India
However, further clarity is needed on what the critieria will be for classifying which game falls under which category and also that general online games are not banned unnecessarily using this framework.
The minister also added that self-regulatory organisations, will need to be established in 90 days after the announcement of the regulations. These organisations will be responsible for going over the games and approving the ones that meeting the regulations.
The classifications currently mentioned by the Union Minister are extremely broad and vague and more information is required on which games will be falling in the banned category.
Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store are reported to be the most hit by this announcement will affect since a lot of those games are downloaded from these two platforms.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Moneycontrol, Business Today, Firstpost
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This post is tagged under: Online Gaming In Indian Society, online gaming india, addiction, gambling, online gambling india, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union IT Minister, Union IT Minister online games, Union IT Minister online gambling, Rajeev Chandrasekhar online betting
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