The servant accused of rape and murder of an IRS officer’s daughter in Delhi was trapped in the debt trap of Rs 7 lakh due to his addiction to online gaming. According to doctors at AIIMS and IHBAS, the combo of gaming disorder and drug addiction is leading to increase in depression, theft, fraud, pornography and other crimes. A law was made by the Parliament last year to protect people from the epidemic of online gaming. According to that, new rules will come into effect from May 1. But even these will not end the merger of online gambling and betting. It is important to understand 5 aspects related to this: 1. According to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the Center does not have the authority to make laws to stop betting and gambling. The Central Government had told the Delhi High Court in August 2021 that the state governments have the right to make laws in this regard. Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan had taken the initiative to make laws to curb this merger. Instead of working with the states to free the youth from the addiction of gaming, on the pretext of changing IT rules and advisories, the central government is, on the contrary, promoting the business of gaming companies. 2. In 2022, the Advertising Standards Council of India had issued an advisory regarding children under 18 years of age. But there are no clear provisions in the new rules to keep children away from games involving money transactions. According to the DPDP law passed by Parliament in 2023, gaming companies cannot commercially use children’s data. But there is no provision in the new rules to implement them. 3. In 2020, the government banned 177 Chinese apps like TikTok and PUBG to prevent data from going abroad and to enhance national security. The ED investigation had revealed the Chinese gaming app’s Mule accounts were involved in promoting cyber crimes and making hawala transactions worth trillions through crypto. Youth are being linked to radicalism and terrorism through gaming chat. There is no provision for harsh punishment in these rules to curb the criminal network of gaming companies. 4. Gaming companies operating from foreign countries are doing illegal business worth trillions and are evading taxes on a large scale. Cases of income tax evasion of Rs 58 thousand crore and GST evasion of Rs 2.50 lakh crore on prize money are pending in the courts. Money gaming apps are being promoted under the guise of e-sports by scrapping the old classification of skill-based games. By taking advantage of these contradictions and legal nuances, gaming companies can try to avoid paying trillions in taxes. 5. The government’s PIB note claimed to ban online betting, gambling, lottery, fantasy sports, poker and card games like rummy. The new rules vaguely talk about a ban on real money gaming. The question is whether the new rules ban online betting and gambling or not? If there is no ban then why doesn’t the government make effective laws in collaboration with the states? If so, then it should be told with what constitutional right has the Center made a law on a subject related to the states? The Law Commission had said that if there was a strict law then even Yudhishthir would not have put his brothers and wife at stake. Legally promoting the merger of money gaming and betting under the guise of social games and e-sports can weaken the foundation of the economy, putting the future of children at stake. The Central Government does not have the authority to make laws to stop betting and gambling. The Central Government had told the Delhi High Court in August 2021 that the state governments have the right to make laws in this regard. (These are the author’s own views)
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Virag Gupta’s column: Why not harsh punishment to control gaming companies?
