In some fresh news coming in from the Karnataka Assembly, it has been reported that the legislative body has amended the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 to prohibit all the online platforms that involve betting, gambling and wagering games. Basically, it was expressed that the Government wanted that no application should be allowed that promoted a ‘Game of Chance’ rather than a ‘Game of skill’.
Earlier this year, the Madras High Court Passed a similar verdict in this regard.
In Karmataka, the Home Minister Jnanendra proposed the bill and requested the members of the Assembly to show support to the bill.
“Our intention is to ban all games that involve profiting, betting and stakes. We have taken lessons from the Madras High Court’s decision to strike down similar legislation in Tamil Nadu and have changed our bill accordingly,”- said Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.
“The state has data on how many people have been affected by online betting and gambling during the pandemic and this bill hopes to put an end to it.”
This will be major blow to most of the fantasy sports platforms that work in the online space. The list includes the likes of Dream 11, Rummy Circle, MPL, Paytm Games and many more. These are already banned in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Moreover, speaking from the monetary aspect of the things, the loss is calculated to be pretty heavy. According to the online gaming industry estimates, Karnataka has as many as 91 gaming companies registered in Bengaluru alone that employ around 5,000 people. Investments of about Rs 3000 crore over the last three years were made in this industry.
“There is Clearly a need to bring more Clarity in the Bill- CEO, IndiaTech.org
Obviously, the people associated in this industry are not very amused by the bill’s contents. They demand some clarity of things in respect of this because the concepts of ‘game of chance’ and ‘game of skill’ are not clearly defined and differentiated.
“There is clearly a need to bring more clarity in the bill. Karnataka is one of the major hubs for Indian startups and many in the online gaming space that includes online fantasy sports, online skill-based casual games and sports may involve small money but clearly do not tantamount to gambling and betting,” Rameesh Kailasam, Chief Executive Officer, IndiaTech.Org, told ThePrint, a digital news media outlet.
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