MeitY’s Draft on Online Gaming Proposes Self-Regulation, Player Verification & Due Diligence

MeitY & Rajeev Chandrasekhar
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis January 3, 2023
  • 4 Minutes Read

Less than a week after the Cabinet Secretariat designated the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) as the nodal agency to oversee the country’s burgeoning online gaming industry, the central body announced an e-gaming policy. MeitY’s policy draft, released on January 2, proposes self-regulation, mandatory players’ verification, and additional due diligence.

The ministry has proposed an amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to include online gaming. It was said the changes would require all online games to register with any self-regulatory body approved by the ministry.

According to the rules, only games approved by the body will be permitted to operate legally in India. These rules aim to protect users from potential harm from skill-based games and regulate as well as impose due diligence requirements on online gaming platforms as intermediaries.

MeitY has invited public comments on the draft rules by January 17.

The Union Minister of State (MoS) for MeitY, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said “The rules are simple — we would like the online gaming ecosystem to expand and grow and be an important catalyst to India’s $1 Trillion digital economy goal by 2025-26. We also envision a bigger role for start-ups in the online gaming industry.”

Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Rajeev Chandrasekhar

 

Additionally, the minister said the ministry moved quickly in framing the policy, which was made possible by MeiTY holding a series of consultations with stakeholders before drafting the policy. He also said the ministry would have another round of public consultations soon to finalize the policy.

 

What the MeitY Draft Policy Says

According to the draft policy prepared by MeitY, online gaming companies will be covered under the new IT rules issued in 2021 for social media platforms.

The online gaming platforms are expected to comply with the laws of the land, including any such law related to gambling or betting or the age at which an individual is competent to enter into a contract.

“The draft amendments are aimed at addressing the said need while enabling the growth of the online gaming industry in a responsible manner,” the notice said.

The draft amendments envisage that an online gaming intermediary will observe the due diligence required under the rules, “including reasonable efforts to cause its users not to host, display, upload, publish, transmit or share an online game not in conformity with Indian law, including any law on gambling or betting.”

“Self-regulatory bodies will be registered with the ministry (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) and may register online games of such online gaming intermediaries who are its members and which meet certain criteria. Such bodies will also resolve complaints through a grievance redressal mechanism,” the notice said.

 

Industry Reacts

Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder, and CEO of Mobile Premier League (MPL), told reporters, “We welcome the release of the draft rules, which brings online gaming under the uniform central regulation. We are truly grateful to MeitY, and especially the ministers for bringing such thoughtful and balanced rules, in a quick time which balances the speed of innovation with gamer welfare.”

Sai Srinivas
Sai Srinivas

 

He also believes these rules are “a testament to our industry,” where everyone worked together tirelessly in engaging with the government, implementing user safeguards, and requesting uniform regulation.

Roland Landers, CEO of All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), in a statement, said, “We are grateful to the government for acknowledging the long-standing need of the gamers and the online gaming industry. We believe this is a great first step for comprehensive regulation for online gaming and will hopefully reduce the state-wise regulatory fragmentation that was a big challenge for the industry.”

Roland Landers
Roland Landers

 

Landers also stated that these rules will be a start in “curbing the menace of anti-national and illegal offshore gambling platforms”

Nazara Technologies’ CEO Nitish Mittersain said these draft recommendations will “help to catalyze lot of growth for the industry, which will in turn result in significant job creation as well as accelerate India’s position on the global gaming map.”

This latest move by the government seems to be a positive step for the future of the online gaming industry.

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