Laws for Indian Fantasy Sports Platform

 

Legal guidelines related to the Fantasy Sports platform are still not clear, due to the “game of chance” name attached to it. The State government is still struggling to understand the meaning of Online Fantasy Sports. However, slowly all State governments are making changes to their Public Gaming Act.

Here we have done the research and found out what Niti Aayog thinks about the OFSPs and rules of the Indian government on the Fantasy Sports Industry, 

Analysis  of OFSP sector in India

Niti Aayog acknowledges the growth rate of OFSP which is 212% (compound annual growth rate) from 2016 to 2019. The analysis suggests OFSPs have so much potential that they can attract nearly 10000 crores of Foreign investment and provide 1000 job opportunities to all. 

One needs to be quite cautious as multiple factors like legal issues, the division between online or fantasy sports, and lurking rewards affect the regulation of this industry. 

After doing research and studying the market of OFSP, the regulatory body is to propose transparent, accountable and competent guidelines to run the OFSP sector under the guidance of government bodies. 

Below are the three observations made by Niti Aayog on the current situation of Fantasy Sports in India. 

1. Niti Aayog analyses that India has left the United States of America behind in the market of Online Fantasy Sports. In 1995, multiple OFSPs in America formed a self-regulatory body ‘FSGA’. This regulatory body ensures the legality of the OFSP. 

2. There is a lot of clarity required in the categorization between “game of skill’ and ‘game of chance”. There is a need to do a test to find out which type of platform. Many OFSPs need to collaborate with the state government to understand all the Online Fantasy Sports related laws. 

3. There is a requirement for uniform guidelines to eliminate all the confusion related to the Fantasy Sports industry. The uniform law will give liberty to Fantasy sports operators to generate more employment, attract foreign investment and grow their platform legally. 

Principles for OFSP

Here are a few Principles to operating Online Fantasy sports without being bothered by legal issues. 

1. Allowing Skill-Based Games: The discussion strongly claims that only knowledge of sports will be promoted. The online fantasy sports platform also needs to present statistical data of players

2. Age limitations for minors: The guideline strictly restricts minors or 18years old from playing the OSFP. This guideline should be introduced to the OFSP players for the safety of minors. 

3. Organise Contest Carefully: OFSP should not consider any such real games which do not indicate any chance of the game, until or unless it's about winning the game through sports knowledge and skills. 

4. Transparency: The terms and conditions of the Fantasy Sports platform should be transparent to all those who are participating on the respective platform. All the terms should be applicable across the platform like rewards, opportunities and rules. Moreover, there should be an option of making grievances from the user side. 

5. No encouragement of Gambling Activities: Promotion or advertisement of any gambling activity should be banned on the OFSP. All the OFS platforms need to abide by the widely accepted legal policies formed by the government of a particular region. 

5. Advertisement and Promotion: All the advertisement or promotional content created for OFSP should consider the rules of the Advertising Standards Council of India. All the advertisements should mention that no winning is guaranteed as it depends on the player's performance. 

6. Immunity from Penalty: The rules suggest that one should collaborate with the state government to ensure immunity against any illegal activities if all the laws are not abided by the Online Fantasy Sports Platform. 

Regulation of Fantasy Sports in India

• Public Gambling Act - As per the Section 12 Public Gambling Act, “game of skills” does not fall under the act of gambling. 

After the constitution, laws for gambling or online games fell under the state government. And some governments even banned online gaming in their respective states. 

• The 276th Law Commission report suggests that the game of skills must be removed from the law of gambling. But no specification was made in favour of Online Fantasy Sports. 

• As the rules of Gambling and Fantasy Sports fell under state rule, states like Sikkim, Nagaland etc; formed rules for online gaming. Whereas states like Telangana introduced the Gaming Act 2017, with an objective of zero tolerance in favour of gambling. Now, this law also includes “any act of risking money on uncertain events, even when it's about a game of skill”.

• The amendment for Fantasy Sports was quite a challenge for the High Court in Writ Petition No. 20261 of 2017. 

• Recently the Government of Karnataka abolished the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, which states that participation and operation of Fantasy Sports is a non-bailable offence.

• Tamil Nadu has strict laws against any kind of betting on computers, communication devices or gaming houses to distribute prizes or money shall be imprisoned for 2 years or a fine of Rs. 10,000 or both.
  But recently the state has lifted the ban and certain changes made to the States Gambling Act. But residents are not allowed to join contests like play-to-play on online apps or sites.

Conclusion

Slowly and steadily State Governments are taking a step forward to remove all kinds of restrictions on Fantasy Sports. The legal bodies are understanding the meaning of a “game of skills’ first before allowing any Fantasy Sports Operators. As India has a huge user base and the ability to fetch hefty foreign investment; Govt. will one day lift the ban from all the states. Till then, you can begin your Fantasy Sports operations journey in the remaining states with Fantasy App Developer.