On 21st Nov Saturday, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that Karnataka is planning to regulate the online games related with using money.
A new law is being formulated against it just days after neighbour state Tamil Nadu announced a ban on online games played with money after a series of suicides among youth because of its repercussion.
Karnataka: We May Ban Gaming Apps
The Karnataka Government led by B.S Yediyurappa has decided to enact a law to control the online gaming business since many families and parents suffer from the loss of money, and youth is being misled into difficulties.
The Home Minister has said that a meeting of senior officials has already taken place as they have got complaints from many parents due to their child’s addiction to online gaming and its sufferings.
Karnataka government will study the laws against online gaming wherein money is used and apps associated with it implemented by other governments before deciding further whether to put a partial ordinance on it or forbid it entirely.
No Future For Gaming Apps?
Earlier in the ban announced by Tamil Nadu, it was stated that both the person wagering and betting via online games would be fined.
The punishment for those who are found playing online games with money will be fined of Rs 5,000 along with six months imprisonment. Simultaneously, the people who operate and run such online gaming apps and tools will be punished with two years in jail and a fine of Rs 10,000.
The regulation has also banned any electronic transfer of money used for distributing prize money for winners of such games.
Online gaming is already declared as an addiction by the World Health organization, and adding the money and betting aspect in such games is not helping. The severe consequences of addiction to gaming/betting and the losses faced due to it are quite apparent.
Though the government is trying to take precautions by criminalizing such online games, there is still a grey area in-between.
Many online skill based games qualify as a betting system, even though they provide services similar to a full fledged game.
For example, Nagaland has separate legislation to recognize games of skills.
But most of the other states of India do not have this lucidity. Once transparency is established in this subject, the precautions taken by banning such games will be much more effective.
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