Expert panel calls for stronger, nationally consistent regulation for online gaming

Ahmedabad, Sep 4 (PTI) An expert committee constituted by the Gandhinagar-based Gujarat National Law University for a study on online gaming has stressed the urgent need for a “stronger and nationally consistent regulation” for e-gaming.

In a report titled ‘Evaluating Blanket Bans and Mandatory Limits in Gaming’, the GNLU highlighted the need to provide balanced regulatory frameworks for online gaming, a growing sector with immense potential to boost India’s economy, that prioritise consumer protection.

As per the report, India hosted 568 million online gamers and over 9.5 billion gaming app downloads in 2023 alone, accounting for 15 per cent of the world's total mobile game downloads.

The first of five considerations of the expert committee, which served as an advisory panel for the report and included specialists in law, policy, mental health, and data sciences, called for “an urgent need for stronger and nationally consistent regulation of online gaming”.

“Effective user protection can only be achieved via a comprehensive regulatory framework”, it said, also cautioning that restrictive interventions by the government are “not a viable solution for protecting users from harm”.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) took steps to regulate online gaming by introducing amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (Online Gaming Rules) in April 2023.

But the progress has been stalled due to the delay in notifying self-regulatory bodies (SRBs) for certification of “permissible online real money games”, the study observed.

This has led to the consequent “non-operationalisation of Online Gaming Rules”, it said.

“As a result thereof, states like Tamil Nadu are looking to enact their own regulations to regulate online gaming, despite the existence of central laws,” it said.

Various states have enacted their own laws and offer different interpretations of what constitutes games of skill, the report said.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Telangana have enacted their own legislations that do away with the exemption available to games of skill, it said.

Similarly, a few states like Nagaland have enacted custom legislations to regulate online gaming, the report stated.

The expert committee has also said that restrictive interventions of the government are “not a viable solution for protecting users from harm”.

“Policymakers must ensure that regulatory measures designed to protect users do not infringe upon constitutionally guaranteed freedoms,” the experts said in the study.

Moreover, implementing responsible gaming tools – features such as limit-setting to support responsible play – is effective and mitigates severe unintended consequences often associated with restrictive policy measures, it said.

Furthermore, interventions should prioritise education, awareness, and industry standards or "operator duties of care", supported by legal frameworks, and any policy measure to protect users should be grounded in concrete evidence, the experts said.

Drawing from a comparative analysis, the study observed that internationally, approaches to setting money and time limits in online gaming vary, guided by two approaches – risk minimisation (nudging users to make informed choices) and restrictive Interventions (strict and paternalistic control).

Most jurisdictions, including the EU, USA, UK have adopted a risk minimisation approach, which incorporates responsible gaming tools such as voluntary and mandatory user-defined limits, warning messages, self-exclusion and user monitoring among others.

“Evidence from literature review suggests that these tools effectively empower and nudge users towards healthier gaming habits while significantly reducing problematic behaviours,” it said.

In contrast, restrictive interventions involving governments setting maximum limits on time and spending have been implemented by China and, previously, South Korea for minors, it said.

“While these methods appear attractive due to their direct approach, evidence suggests that broad, restrictive measures are ineffective in reducing user harm,” it said.

A major study analysing over seven billion hours of playtime found that extreme restrictions often lead users to desire more gaming, it added. PTI KA PD NR