Telangana May Abandon Its 2017 Online Gaming Ban 

Telangana IT Secretary has Prepared the New Law 

The Principal Secretary of IT, Electronics and Communications of Telangana Jayesh Ranjan has drafted new legislation to regulate online gaming in the state. He made the announcement at the recent Knowledge Series forum organized by the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) in Meghalaya. 

Five years ago, the state enacted a blanket ban on all online gaming through the adoption of the Telangana Gaming (Amendment) Act, 2017, which specifically included cyberspace in the list of places to be "deemed to be a common gaming house" and a violation of the law if used for gaming, with no distinction made between games of chance and games of skill. 

Speaking at the Knowledge Series forum, IT Secretary Ranjan admitted that the 2017 blanket ban was the easier option for the state government as back then it was not in a position to implement any regulation over the sector. The ban, however, had turned out to be relatively ineffective as Telangana cyberspace was filled by offshore gaming and betting sites over which the government had no control and was not able to tax. 

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Available Data on Sports Betting Alone is Enough to Support the Need of Regulation 

In India, betting on sports alone generates money flows between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.5 and ₹11.5 lakh crore). These figures cover all sportsbooks in the country combined across legal and illegal, offline and online betting channels, and show that the sheer scale of the market calls for sensible and comprehensive regulation. 

Estimates on the number of bettors in India point out that 140 million people do it regularly, and a total of 370 million bets when there is a major sports event. A single ODI (One Day International) game with the participation of India’s national cricket team attracts bets to the scale of $200 million (roughly ₹1,550 crores), while offline and online cricket betting are the major contributors among all sports. 

Research by industry bodies has shown that if the national sportsbook market gets legalized and regulated, amounts of up to $40 billion (₹3 lakh crore) will disappear from the black markets and join legal and taxable financial channels. 

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Telangana has a Fair Share of the Market Despite the Gaming Ban 

An analysis of the activity of 4099 individual sports bettors between January 1 and November 4, 2021 on the Pure Win platform shows that Telangana holds a 6.9 percent market share in terms of the number of bettors. Thus, the state shows up in the fifths position after Maharashtra (12.57 percent), Delhi (11.45 percent), Uttar Pradesh (9.66 percent), and Tamil Nadu (7.42 percent). 

Considering Telangana’s population of 35 million people, or roughly 2.5 percent of India’s total population, the figures show that the southern inland state has a highly active sports betting community that goes well beyond demographic expectations. 

A further breakdown by monthly activity arranged by the number of active unique bettors shows Telangana taking the second spot behind Andhra Pradesh and ahead of Delhi. Telangana recorded its highest activity during the months of September, October and November, coinciding with the delayed second half of the 2021 IPL season. 

The Draft Telangana Gaming Regulation Bill 

The 2022 draft law to regulate online gaming in Telangana envisages the establishment of a state gaming committee composed of government representatives, the police, associations and companies from the industry, and retired judges. This joint committee will be tasked to formulate the rules pertaining to gaming in the state and define what is permissible and what is not. 

"We see that the landscape of this online gaming is extremely dynamic. It is extremely complex and the government does not have the capability at all to be the regulator by itself," IT Secretary Ranjan said and explained that he is waiting for the right time to propose the bill to the state cabinet. 

Jayesh Ranjan expects the gaming regulation bill to be successfully implemented and to come into force, as he has discussed it with those who were behind the enactment of the blanket gaming ban in 2017. According to him, the police have also swayed their position and are now supporting the regulation initiative.