Ashwini Vaishnaw pitches for central law to regulate online gaming and gambling

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday stressed the need for a central law to strictly regulate online gaming and gambling in the country even though the subject comes under the jurisdiction of states and many of them have taken measures to deal with it.

Replying to questions on the issue in Lok Sabha, the Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology said there was a need for a consensus among states on the issue, saying a central law is required to be enacted to regulate online gaming and gambling in the country as there is no meaning of state boundary in the digital world.

“Online gambling and illegal betting is a very important subject. As per Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, betting and gambling comes in the State list,” he said in Lok Sabha.

As many as 19 states and Union territories have enacted their own laws, replacing the previous ones, to deal with the issue, while 17 states have modified the public gambling acts to bring online gaming and gambling under its ambit, the minister said.

“Unfortunately, there is no meaning of the state’s boundary in the digital world,” he said.

“My point is that we are very responsible. Lawmakers should come with a consensus and we should then have a central act which basically has been drafted in consultation with everybody to effectively regulate online games and online gambling,” he said.

Vaishnaw said the central government is “very seriously concerned” about the impact of online gaming and gambling on society.

“In such a situation, the government has taken the first right step by treating online gaming apps and websites as intermediaries and brought them under the intermediaries act,” he said.