IT secretary S Krishnan said the ban on money gaming doesn’t mean doom and gloom for the sector, with ample growth opportunities existing in the social games and e-sports categories. In an interview with TOI, Krishnan denied that companies were not given sufficient opportunities to provide their views, adding that action against money games was taken after unanimity across the political spectrum to act against the entities to ensure the welfare of 45 crore users who were addicted to the platforms and even committed suicide after suffering losses. Excerpts:Gaming companies say that it is all doom and gloom for the sector after the new legislation banned online money games. Do you agree?I would strongly disagree with the statement. What the bill has done is to give clarity to the entire gaming sector. A number of people from the sector, who met me over time also demanded that there should be clarity in the way the sector is administered, so that the baby doesn’t get thrown out with the bathwater, literally. So, this is the clarity which many members of the industry had asked for. There is an institutional framework that has been created, which was another demand of the industry, which said it was not happy or satisfied with the way the self-regulatory bodies were to be created under the April 2023 amendments to the IT rules. They felt that there should be a proper authority, and that has been created now. I see a lot of prospects. We have to recognise that e-sports and social gaming are extremely large segments of the overall gaming industry. We should not make the mistake of assuming that money games are the biggest part of the industry.Companies say you’ve broken the backbone of the industry by killing the only incredibly large revenue stream…We have to look at the social distress of crores of families. As many as 45 crore people in India play online money games. Addiction and financial ruin of families is a very crucial factor. So, are we looking at the welfare of crores of families, or are we looking at a few companies which employ probably thousands of employees? I’m sure those employees will find other jobs. What you find in this case is consensus across the political spectrum. I have been in any number of Parliament committee meetings where MPs from across the political spectrum demanded to know what the govt was doing to come down hard on online money gaming. All the options were presented to the political executive and implications of each of the steps were explained in terms of possible job losses, revenue implications, etc. I think it was a very conscious decision that the welfare of crores of families is something which has to be prioritised.Companies deny that the larger organised entities were engaged in terror support or for that matter money laundering…I’m not saying that every company is indulging in this activity. However, there are reports from the financial intelligence unit under the department of revenue, which cite a large number of suspicious transactions that have taken place. There are also reports from other agencies involved in national security. I think we have to go by what they say and not by what the companies say.Companies also allege the action signals govt is against entrepreneurship…This is an unfair statement. I think there are a number of programmes of govt that support entrepreneurship. Tech entrepreneurship is being supported, we are supporting those building AI models, and those developing AI applications. Is that not support for entrepreneurship? Are only people in the online money gaming industry entrepreneurs?
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