Sikkim Issues Third Online License, Playwin First To Offer Online Betting

A few months back, the Sikkim Government had begun issuing licenses for online gaming in the state and now reports state that Playwin Lotteries has been the first to start offering betting services on virtual horse racing.

According to Glaws.in, three companies have now received the ‘go live’ licenses from the government. These include Best & Co, a subsidiary of Future Gaming, Maarm International and Essel Group. It is believed that all these licensees are rushing to place infrastructure and technology for immediate start of operations.

Playwin lotteries, which are run by M/s Pan India Network Ltd, part of the Essel Group of Companies, across India was believed to have been the first to begin accepting wagers on virtual horseracing, but after facing technical glitches and objections from the Sikkim lottery department on the method of operations, they had to stop. Glaws.in states that officials of the lottery department could not be reached to clarify the exact reason for the objections.

Sources in the know reported that Pan India has been asked to withhold services by the authorities, until certain some rules and legislative provisions are amended. It is being said that the government is looking at amending the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Rules, 2009 or promulgating an ordinance to amend the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008 and later pass it as a legislation, through notifications soon.

The government is undertaking this move to bring clarity to all online gaming activities. It is expected to restrict gaming activities to the territorial boundaries of Sikkim, align conditions of the licenses with existing legislative provisions and officially include the conditions of the intranet in the rules.

Reports state that Maarm International and Pan India are almost ready to start full-fledged operations within the next few weeks and are on the brink of updating their technical infrastructure.