MPL CEO: Progressive and Stable Regulation on Skill Gaming Is a Win-Win for All
Sai Srinivas Urges for Government Support for the Gaming Industry
In a recently published opinion article authored by him, Sai Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of the Mobile Premier League (MPL), argues the need for more effort and resources to be invested in the country’s online skill game and esports industry. Government support in the form of a progresive and stable regulation, as well as the creation of a dedicated development fund, would boost this sunrise sector to new heights that would benefit the whole economy, writes Srinivas.
Observing the increased interest during the preceding year towards improving the existing framework of gambling laws and regulations related to e-gaming among various governmental bodies, including both houses of the parliament, the cabinet and the GST council, as well as the constitutional court system, the author expresses his hope “that the positive interest will mean progressive and stable regulation for the industry”.
National Regulation on Gaming: the Choice of Mature Economies
Adopting a national regulation over the various forms and shapes of e-gaming is not exactly discovering hot water as a constantly increasing number of mature economies have already done it. Countries like Sweden, Denmark, France and the United Kingdom have chosen the path of regulation in order to gain greater control over the sector, increase tax and non-tax revenues for their treasuries, and significantly reduce the social costs related to gaming to acceptable levels.
Sweden, as one of the leading examples globally, provides one of the more recent proofs that regulation of all sectors of online skill gaming can be done in such a way so as to be beneficial to all stakeholders and participants in the market. Moving away from a previous state-monopoly regime, and incentivised by the influx of offshore online platforms operating in Swedish space, the Scandinavian country adopted a regime granting access to foreign operators across the casino, poker, sports and virtual league betting, fantasy sports, and lotteries genres to the local market in exchange of greater responsibilities.
On the one hand, the Swedish exchequer increased its revenue base from taxes paid by locally-licensed operators and substantial license fees while new jobs were created, and, on the other hand, the regulator was able to implement state-of-the-art responsible gambling and gaming requirements for platforms to protect the public and effectively address the various societal issues related to gaming and betting, including addictions, excessive financial losses by people, fraud and odd-tamering.
A Win-Win Scenario for India
Currently in India, a great number of foreign casino and betting platforms, including Pure Win among many others, work under respectable international licences that guarantee adherence to similar responsible gaming principles as in Sweden. A progressive national regulation framework can bring all platforms into the same paradigm of responsible practises and root out shady sites and services, thus enhancing overall gamer protection, promoting employment and generating much needed fiscal revenues.
In his article, Srinivas also highlights that the growth of the gaming industry has been creating vast possibilities for employment over numerous new professions in design, programming, animation, and other spheres. Spillover effects have been boosting other industry sectors such as telecommunications and broadcasting, VFX, marketing and many others, with all that having the potential to help the nation fight its ongoing job crisis.
Among the measures for increased governmental support for the gaming industry proposed by Srinivas is the establishment of a fund dedicated to supporting budding desi game developers who “have the skill but lack resources”. Such an initiative can make a huge difference in the medium- and long-run towards turning India into a global gaming power, he argues.
Srinivas further suggests the creation of an Esports Excellence Centre tasked to enable India to compete with the leading global coders and developers by granting young desi talent access to the latest developments in infrastructure.
Quoting estimates that there are now more than 1.5 lakh professional gamers in the country and highlighting that the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games will give away 24 medals in the category of esports and online skill gaming, Srinivas argues about the need of budget allocations for the establishment of training centres for professional esport and gaming athletes.
