Money being at the heart of the action, the home grown gaming regulator need to also work closely with RBI or even SEBI to ensure money from nefarious sources do not land up in stock markets. From horse racing that is now governed by individual turf clubs to physical casinos to online gaming, there is no reason why all three should not come under its overarching ambit.

Much like UK’s Gambling Commission or their counterparts in Sweden, Gibraltar or the progressive Massachusetts Gaming Board (like India, every state in US has their own regulation though for years it is trying for years to pass a new Federal Bill), an independent Central regulator in India should protect the consumer by keeping a tab on money -laundering, sourcing of funds, usage of prize money. These SRBs were to have holistic representation from gaming companies, civil society, regulatory and legal and technology geeks, retired judges, educationalist, psychologists, behavioral scientists as gate keepers, with each acting as countervailing influence against the other to negate any single group high jacking the agenda of progress and protection for the sake of profits It makes one wonder if the issue has been torpedoed by bureaucratic sloth or by the big gaming corporate interests elbowing out peers and less influential competitors.īut for a country like ours with little or no regulatory experience much like UAE, self-regulatory bodies can co-exist along with a referee with teeth in a two tier structure. So as ministers take centre stage yet again, the fate of these SRBs hang in suspended animation. Yet six months later, we are back to the beginning trying to iron out the inter-ministerial overlaps which were quite frankly known to all, even earlier.

Dice race game with table cloths