Gaming Report: VUSPORT Onboards AB de Villiers and Sunil Chhetri as Brand Ambassadors & More

We are back with three recent gaming updates. Sports analytics, streaming, and content portal VUSPORT has onboarded two famous sports figures, former South African skipper AB de Villiers and Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri, as its brand ambassadors.

In Madhya Pradesh, a High Court bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal, while disposing of a Suo Moto case on online gambling, came out in sharp criticism against the state government. Justice Agarwal asked why the government was playing in the hands of vested interests and failed to develop a law against online gambling.

Interactive social gaming platform WinZO has been at legal loggerheads with Google over the latter issuing a warning to users seeking to download the WinZO app from the Google Play Store. While a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court rejected WinZO’s plea against the Google warning last month, WinZO challenged the decision. Last Friday, a two-judge bench of Justices Manmohan and Saurabh Banerjee directed Google to soften its stance and consider issuing a lighter warning to users downloading the WinZO app by April 26.

VUSPORT Onboards AB de Villiers and Sunil Chhetri as Brand Ambassadors

VUSPORT, the 2022-launched sports streaming, content, and analytics platform, has signed former South African cricket team captain AB de Villiers and legendary Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri as brand ambassadors.

VUSPORTS was launched by Super Six Sports Gaming (SSSG), the parent firm of the daily fantasy sports app Fantasy Akhada. In just a year, the site has made a strong start, gaining data-backed content and streaming rights for several cricket and football matches.

Regarding the collaboration, AB de Villiers said, “I am thrilled to be associated with VUSPORT. As a sportsman, I know how important it is to have access to accurate and up-to-date information. VUSPORT provides that and so much more. It’s a fantastic platform for sports enthusiasts.”

Chhetri, who holds the record for being the third-highest active goal-scorer in the world, also expressed his excitement at signing on with VUSPORT. ”I am excited to be a part of the VUSPORT family. I believe this platform has the potential to change the way people in India view sports. The analytics and content offered are unparalleled, and I look forward to working with the team to bring the best content to fans across the country.”

Group COO Sumit Kumar Jha discussed how VUSPORT’s sister concern Fantasy Akhada has cemented itself in the fantasy sports segment. The brand is ambitiously poised to grow VUSPORT along the same lines. He said, “We are extremely excited to see the way our second product has shaped up. The seamlessness of the app, along with very high-quality data insights, has left me amazed. This speaks volumes of the quality of talent we have within our organization in the Tech & Data Sciences teams. We are ready and cannot wait to wow the users.”

SSSG is currently valued at $135 Million and recently raised $11 Million in a funding round led by Florintree Advisors.

Madhya Pradesh High Court Calls Out State Government For Delay in Enacting Law Banning Online Gambling

The Madhya Pradesh High Court bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal sharply criticized the state government for failing to chalk out a law prohibiting online gambling. While disposing of a pending Suo Moto case on online gambling last Tuesday, Justice Agarwal pointed out how the state filed an appeal in front of the division bench, exposing the duality and hypocrisy of the state government.

You may remember that in November 2022, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra announced that online gaming would soon be banned in the state. It was following an incident where an 11-year-old boy allegedly committed suicide after losing money in an online game in Bhopal. Mishra revealed that the state home department had prepared a draft law to ban online gaming.

Last year, while hearing a bail application, Justice Vivek Agarwal took Suo Moto note of online gambling and called for the need to regulate online gaming.

Last December, the state government told the court that it had set up a committee of officials to prepare draft legislation for banning online gambling. The government sought three months to prepare the appropriate legislation, informing that it planned to get the Bill approved in the state legislative assembly.

On March 13, the court directed the Home Secretary to file the draft rules, along with an affidavit, in seven days. The court listed the matter for March 21.

In response, the state government filed an appeal with the division bench challenging the previous order of Justice Vivek Agarwal. The division bench quashed the previous order related to the Suo Moto note of the menace of online gambling in the state.

Delhi HC Asks Google to Issue Softer Warning to Users Downloading the WinZO App

Last month, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Amit Bansal rejected WinZO’s plea against Google’s download warning. According to WinZO, ever since the app was converted to a paid gaming platform, Google began displaying a warning to users: “This type of file may harm your device. Do you want to keep WinZO.apk anyway?”

WinZO challenged the order, and the case came up for hearing before a two-judge bench of Justices Manmohan and Saurabh Banerjee last Friday.

The bench heard out counsels from Google and WinZO and, to the relief of the gaming platform, asked Google to consider issuing a lighter warning to users downloading the WinZO app by April 26.

Challenging WinZO’s plea, the attorney representing Google said, “WinZO cannot dictate what policies Google can run… display warnings is not specific to India, but is followed across the globe.”

The counsel for WinZO pointed out that Google did not check to see if their program included malware. He said, “If Google says it is not available in Play Store, then it is okay to put out a disclaimer. But to say that it will harm your device, the application has a negative connotation that this is malware.”

Objecting to Google’s stance, the bench stated, “Are you sure it is a case of malware? You can say it is unverified. Harm may be a harsh word”. When faced with unverified complaints concerning an application, the high court questioned Google’s ability to claim that it was harmful. “Can you say it is harmful? You can say it is unverified and download it at your own risk.”

Last month, in an 11-page order, Justice Bansal rejected WinZO’s plea, citing the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and said that the Google disclaimer is “not discriminatory and appeared to be the industry practice for third party applications that are downloaded from the internet.”

The Delhi High Court’s latest decision brings much-needed reprieve for WinZO, who had submitted in the court that 42% of consumers had chosen not to download its app due to Google’s warning.