NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is exploring the need for a central law to regulate online gaming, gambling, betting and lotteries, sources said on Monday.A decision in this regard was taken at a recent meeting of the top officials of the MHA, where experts from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre have been directed to prepare a report on various aspects of such online activities, sources told TNIE. The meeting was also attended by officials from various law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Bureau, they added.A source said, “During the meeting it was decided that the I4C under the MHA will go into detail on the subject and prepare a report on various aspects of the proposed law aimed at regulating ever-expanding online activities relating to gaming, gambling, betting and lotteries.”It is to be noted here that so far the issue has been assigned to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and it has framed Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021, under the Information Technology Act, 2000.Under the rules, obligations are imposed on intermediaries including online gaming platforms and if they fail to observe due diligence, they lose their exemption from liability for third-party content, officials in the MHA said.They, however, contended that at present there are many tech giants under the scanner of different law enforcement agencies, for cheating gullible Indians.According to sources, the idea of coming up with a new law is to ensure that all, including celebrities, who endorse such online activities, are to be brought under a legal framework. Since betting and lotteries are primarily luck-based and require no skill, the aim is to bring harsher regulations.A new law is being considered because it is suspected that online betting and gambling often dupe gamers by manipulating results, and duped money is laundered and transferred in small amounts through payment gateways.Sharing personal information in online chats and platforms also exposes users to scams and the risk of hacking their phones and computer systems, the sources said, adding that thus a stricter law is the need of the hour.
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