Nagaland becomes the first state in India to legalise online gaming websites. With the assent given by the Governor to The Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Bill, 2015, it finally becomes an Act. It is expected that the associated rules and regulations pertaining to the Act and issuing of licences will commence soon. The Act has segregated the list of games that are considered gambling with the “games of skill”.
Necessity surely breeds ingenuity and for a cash crunched state like Nagaland the Act is indeed path breaking that is expected to be emulated by the other states. The Chief Minister had stated that the bill seeks to regulate and promote the conduct of online “games of skill” with the primary objective of earning revenue for the state government by way of licensing fees and royalty.
Though the Act defines clearly what is gambling and what are games of skill it is a good time to look into the experiences of other states with regard to online lotteries and internet enabled gaming portals. There is still a doubt as to how receptive the other states will be to allow our state licensed online games. The Supreme Court has already ruled that a state can ban online lotteries from other states. So, unless it is successful outside our state the Act will in no way be beneficial to the state exchequer.
Moreover the type of the game can be one of skill but still a player has to spend money in some way to be able to play. This will surely ruffle the feathers of many parents in the local context. Though not real gambling the various online games especially the ones produced by Zynga are local favourites in Nagaland. There are reported instances of money transactions being done offline by players to share their online chips/coins. It is also reported that these practices has led some avid players into huge debts.
Therefore when Poker is considered more as a game of skill in some countries and Rummy is considered as a game of skill, the public should be really apprehensive of what our government is leading our youth into if online games will be open to all in Nagaland. With the need for revenue the government will go ahead but our lawmakers also should look into our society minutely and study if the access to these online games from our state must be restricted initially.
