Author: Sunidhi Bansal
Niti Aayog, a policy think tank of the Government of India, released in December 2020, Draft Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-Level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India (hereinafter referred to as “discussion paper”). The discussion paper states its view is“…to examine the fantasy sports industry structure and consider evolving guiding principles that can help the industry to grow by adhering to guidelines which are consistent and based on well-recognised principles.”
The discussion paper draws attention to the differential treatment faced by Online Fantasy Sports Platform (“OFSP”) users across India resulting in legal ambiguity. It thereby expresses the need for uniform operating standards. It highlights that although fantasy sports received judicial recognition, fantasy sports contests have no independent legal recognition and as a result, have to take shelter under an undefined exception to the state gambling and public order laws. Speaking of the reason behind the need for formal recognition of fantasy sports industry and regulation thereof, the discussion paper states the same would “…enable Indian OFSP operators to focus on innovation and achieve scale and expand their operations in a clear and principle-based regulatory environment, achieving the mission of the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Initiative…”. Further, it suggests considering setting up of an independent and cost-effective grievance redressal mechanisms and concurs with the Sports Law and Policy Centre’s (SLPC) suggestion for “institution of clear guidelines and the creation of centrally administered and nationally available safe harbor for games of skills, adhering to these guidelines”. It mentions that pursuant to the deliberations with eminent persons from the industry a few principles and recommendations were agreed upon including a self-regulatory organization for fantasy sports with at least 66% registered fantasy sports users in India and an independent oversight board looking after the governance of self-regulatory organization.
The discussion paper provides that the formats of the fantasy sports contents offered by OFSPs should remain skill predominant and an independent evaluation committee, will undertake statistical and legal evaluation to ascertain that the format is skill-predominant in determining the winning outcome. It provides that OFSP operators are also required to keep statistical data to track player/user performance on their platforms and submit the same to a self-regulatory organization periodically to demonstrate that the formats are skill predominant. It also states that any pay-to-play formats will be subject to approval of the evaluation committee and should not be offered to users less than 18 years old
The discussion paper further provides that the terms of participation in fantasy sports contests should be fair and transparent, and participation should be provided a grievance redressal mechanism for their complaints and also lay down the provisions for advertising and promotion of fantasy sports contests.
The discussion paper can be accessed here: https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2020-12/FantasySports_DraftForComments.pdf
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