It is modern-day betting on smartphones, in full public view. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive framework to regulate the gaming industry, the advocate-on-record, Supreme Court of India, writes
There are no ‘sports’ in ‘fantasy sports’. It is ludicrous to argue that the gamers playing fantasy sports are actually players or managers in sports events. The ‘fantasy games’ are, in fact, trying to cash in on the popularity of sporting events by engaging gamers in a world of curated reality and by providing easy access for wagering or betting on their selected teams. The companies, therefore, running these fantasy sports platforms are, in reality, facilitating internet-based gambling in sports which is the biggest threat for sports integrity in present times and the times to come.
This is a world of modern-day betting or gambling which is happening not in some dingy backroom or shady café, but on your sleek smartphones, in full public view, sitting in your drawing rooms with family or friends. The apps for playing these games are nothing but ‘satta houses’ in a new avatar aided by information technology and social media. They are luring people to come on to their apps with big prize money, collecting money from gamers, distributing the prize money using payment gateways. The gamers or the so-called ‘managers’ create their own team by using certain combinations and wage money to earn quick big bucks. In fact, the apps allow gamers to have multiple teams to even out their losses or in other words increase their ‘chance’ of winning big money. The ‘skill’, so to say, vests with app developers, owners of these platforms, who make money in the name of ‘platform fee’.
Simply put, ‘fantasy game platforms’ are nothing but sports betting (which is illegal in a non-virtual world) or sports gambling in the world of virtual reality. The medium has changed, but the purpose and intent remain the same, which is to exploit people with the promise of quick bucks by putting money on an outcome of some uncertain event. As a matter of fact, technology has made sports betting more accessible given the smartphones, internet, low-cost data and payment gateways. One can play and win/lose with a click of a button. Online fantasy sport thus has become a billion-dollar industry today.
Sports betting or sports gambling has always been considered as bringing perversity to the real sports spirit. The element of big money involved in an unregulated ecosystem also brings with it criminals and consequent sports scandals. To argue, therefore, that ‘fantasy sports’ are not impacting the real-world sporting events is self-defeating. The impact on the mental health of ‘gamers of fantasy sports’ is an area that should be of serious concern. The adverse impact of video games, in general, and fantasy games, in particular, is clearly visible on children/young adults.
(This story appears in the 17 June, 2022 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)