This allows consumers to easily identify unmarked platforms, enhancing visibility and trust. Similarly, a risk minimisation with responsible gaming tools, including user-defined limits and self-exclusion, should be implemented. Similarly, UAE requires gaming operators to offer options to set cooling-off periods, account closer information, provide information, and resources for addiction and compulsive behaviour. This approach would ensure that game permissibility assessments are based on objective and independently determined criteria. MeitY may notify this standard for mandatory compliance by the industry for SRB verification, granting SRBs the authority to certify and enforce adherence. Establishing a central body would be a positive step toward standardising regulations and make the regulatory landscape clearer for the industry.

AI, Trust, and Inclusivity: Digital Strategy with Chirag Jain (HDFC)

The concept of a supply-centric and destination-based tax runs through the scheme of the statutory provisions and the proposals issued by the GST Council. In modern commerce, the distinction between goods and services is increasingly becoming a matter of degree than substance. The decision of the Supreme Court is not just likely to be make or break for the industry but is also expected to be a defining moment on the future of GST. This is besides the fact that the tax demands have drastically swelled.

To foster growth, regulatory measures (in whatever manner introduced) should focus on whitelisting legitimate companies, eliminating illegal platforms including illegal offshore platforms, enabling innovation, and ensuring compliances while maintaining ease of doing business. It aligns with India’s regulatory approach, where the government sets standards for whitelisted products, as envisioned under the IT Gaming Rules. Registration will not only address the concerns of money laundering but create a distinction between legitimate Indian apps and illegal offshore entities which can then be relied upon by the consumers while choosing the app to play on.

Income received through online gambling is taxable in the hands of recipient. The Supreme Court of India has stayed coercive enforcementactions such as tax recovery or enforcement measures againstfantasy gaming platforms FanMade11 Fantasy Sports Pvt Ltd and9stacks while a major related case involving GameskraftTechnologies remains pending before the Court. The UK government has proposed barring gambling firms without adomestic licence from sponsoring sports teams, including PremierLeague clubs, citing risks to consumers such as inadequatefinancial vulnerability checks, irresponsible advertising, and weakdata protection that could lead to fraud or identity theft. The provisions of the integrated goods and services tax (IGST) and the CGST Act focus on implementing a workable machinery to adequately capture the complexities of supply in a global and digital age. One cannot but agree that the nebulous technological traits of online gaming virtually make it perceptively difficult, if not impossible, to identify who owns these specified goods, who transfers them, who receives them, etc.

• Some states have signed Memorandum of Understanding with gaming industry bodies to promote responsible gaming.
• However, the high taxes rates raise concerns about the sector’s growth and foreign investments.
• To create these standards, BIS may form a technical committee (as envisaged under the BIS Act, 2016) involving stakeholders (including government officials, industry, subject matter experts, and psychologists), to give inputs.
• Online betting companies have been using surrogate advertising to make their way into India’s biggest sports leagues.

Payments, Payouts, and Compliance Built to Work Together

In 2013, CVC tried to acquire Betfair, the world largest Internet betting exchange company, but the deal didn’t go through. It’s a different matter that all the advertisements for these brands come with a disclaimer that says “this game involves an element of financial risk and may be addictive”. And one of the new team owners is an international gambling company. In 2024, it recorded a 7% year-on-year increase to reach 488 million gamers, according to the FICCI–EY report Shape the Future.

To address online gaming addiction, the government could consider mandating gaming companies to have responsible gaming practices, such as giving warnings to its users on the time and money spent, encouraging breaks, and allowing users to set their personal monetary limits. A stable policy environment is crucial for managing the adverse effects of gambling and betting, while maximising the potential of the online gaming sector in India. With its growth potential, the online gaming sector is poised to boost India’s US$1-trillion digital economy goal, driving FDI, tax revenues, employment, and the expansion of ancillary industries like fintech, Web 3.0, AR, and cybersecurity. The online gaming sector is segmented by device, genre of games, and revenue model, which may often overlap. The online gaming industry’s contribution to the digital economy is notable, with a projected CAGR of 15 percent by FY28, surpassing other emerging sectors within the digital economy. Regulatory uncertainty and misconceptions equating online gaming with betting and gambling further limit its progress.

Most of the countries have restricted or banned online gambling. This includes virtual poker, casinos, sports betting and other such means. Increased Online Gambling and other fantasy sports platforms such as Dream11 brought many Indians into the Tax Network indirectly. Authorities contend that such overseas investment structures andthe retention of foreign income contravene FEMA vlbook provisions,particularly after the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation ofOnline Gaming Act, 2025, which effectively banned real-money gamingin India, and that the foreign entities engaged in non-bona-fidebusiness activity inconsistent with Indian regulatoryrequirements.