Should The Government Ban Fantasy Sport?
Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
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By Slogger
First publised on 2021-01-08 10:19:54
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Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
View all posts by this Author
Does fantasy sport, either for pure pleasure or even for money, fall in the realm of gambling or is it a game of skill? This question is being debated in government circles, the courts and even civil society as the sector sees phenomenal growth backed by huge investments. In fact, given the fact that the number of users have increased phenomenally in the last few years, India is fast becoming a hub for online fantasy sports with multiple channels providing games on multiple sports disciplines. From pure pleasure initially, the sector is now witnessing huge prize money being given out for those who apply their skills (or gamble, depending on one's point of view) to win. The dividing line between skill and gambling is not as thin as is being made out by those who oppose fantasy sport and even the courts, as well as the Niti Aayog, have acknowledged the importance of skill in such games.
The question before the government now is whether it should regulate such online fantasy sport channels or ban them. Given the fact that they have millions of users and the platforms themselves are multiplying at great speed, there seems to be a huge demand for such a channel. It asks 'players' to apply their skill based on the knowledge of the performance of sporting stars to form 'teams' and the person whose 'team' performs the best win the prize money. Others also win based on periodic assessments of such teams or performance of stars in their 'teams'. Even if there is an element of gambling involved, it fails due to the simple reason that there are millions of permutations and combinations and one can keep on changing the teams based on the recent performances of sportsmen. Hence, the element of skill, based on knowledge and calculations, overpowers the element of gambling to a large extent.
Hence, the government should not kill a channel that is developing so fast. Instead, it should regulate it to prevent unscrupulous promoters to take it down the gambling route (which they can do to earn money from unsuspecting users) and perhaps tax it appropriately to earn revenue. Since different states, and even different courts, are taking different views on the subject which are conflicting, it leads to confusion. It will also spook investors who will stop investing in the sector and the gains will be lost. The Centre must come out with a unified regulatory architecture which takes into account best practices in the world and ensures that the channels adhere to all laws and do not allow pure gambling to take place. The checks and balances in the framework would ensure that people employ skills to play the sport the promoters do not design games in a way that they become gambling platforms.
