Online Gaming: States to police gaming; Centre to frame rules

Despite the federal government defining comprehensive regulation of the industry, state governments will be tasked with overseeing law and order matters related to online gaming within their jurisdictions, people familiar with the matter said. told ET.

The legal framework that provides for “light touch” regulation of gaming brokers also requires them to appoint complaints officers and node liaison officers who can deal with law enforcement, they added.

An official with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said the new rules are likely to be introduced for public consultation “in mid-January.”

penalties

“This industry is still in its infancy. Rules need to be crafted in such a way that the burden of compliance is as light as possible for smaller players and new entrants,” said the senior official. “There are several aspects that will be carefully monitored, including content legality, services, and excessive in-game violence.”

The center is also likely to propose that states only “punish” online gaming in cases of serious missteps, rather than outright banning them.

“We are trying to get rid of criminal and harsh penalties so the industry can innovate and move forward without fear. Of course, the appropriate guardrails will always be there,” said the official above. , said, “These will be the first proposals to the state.” Future rules are likely to be similar to the Interim Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Ethics, introduced in 2021 and revised earlier this year.

Maintain scrutiny


Gaming companies are also required to enforce strict customer verification standards of establishing the correct age of players by verifying them with government-issued identification. The method needs further scrutiny.

For example, if a credit or debit card is repeatedly used to make additional in-game purchases or purchase additional play time, game companies analyze these patterns to determine the estimated age of the purchaser, You can check whether your card is being misused by minors.

“Those aspects can be examined. Of course, there should be sufficient consultation on these issues,” the official said.

ET reported in August that an interagency group tasked with developing a framework for regulating online gaming proposed introducing daily and caps on how much money individual players spend on games.

However, the game company claims that “levels of spending” can vary from person to person. ask players in advance.

“But there are no checks and balances to see the maximum amount that can be spent.

A seven-member inter-ministerial task force set up in May includes members of Niti Aayog, secretaries from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Industry and Internal Trade Promotion, and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. MeitY’s secretary too.

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