INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Shivalik Chandan, Hardik Choudhary, Dhruv Singh and Arjun Khurana, G&W Legal
bers which may be obtained by Indian residents. The assignment of the Aadhar number is linked to biometric and demographic data. Aadhar numbers are a mandatory requirement to take advantage of many government-provided ser - vices, subsidies and benefits. As part of a challenge raised in the courts against the constitutionality of mandatorily requiring Aadhar numbers for statutory benefits, the Supreme Court of India, in Justice KS Put - taswamy v Union of India, held that the right to privacy is enshrined with the fundamental right to life and liberty granted by the Indian Constitu - tion. Via this judgment, the Supreme Court also struck down the provisions of the Aadhar legisla - tion which allowed private entities to use Aadhar authentication. Such authentication is now only permitted when it is enforced by a law. The online gaming industry in India is regulated at both the central and state levels. At the central level, the IT Rules 2021 primarily govern online gaming. These rules apply to all internet games, but the obligations thereunder primarily apply to those games dealing in real money (where users make deposits in cash or kind) and are called “Online Real Money Games”. The rules define an “online gaming intermediary” as the intermediary offering online games. Under these rules, there are two sets of obliga - tions – one that applies to all intermediaries and additional obligations that apply to online gam - ing intermediaries. The additional obligations on online gaming intermediaries include verification by a self-regulatory body (SRB), appointing a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact per - 9. Gaming Industry 9.1 Regulations
son for 24x7 co-ordination with law enforcement agencies, as well as a resident grievance officer, who would be an Indian resident employee of the company, etc. Currently, there are two SRBs – the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports and All Indian Gaming, with leading gaming intermediar - ies as members. Other central laws, including the SPDI Rules, the DPDPA, the draft DPDP Rules 2025, the CERT-In Regulations and tax laws, also apply to the gam - ing industry. State laws vary, with some states banning online real money games and others permitting games of “skill”. Issues such as gambling, age ratings and con - tent restrictions are also covered by the above laws, with specific mentions in the IT Rules 2021. For instance, the rules put obligations on online media intermediaries to ensure that they do not, among other things, display/host any content which is obscene or pornographic or paedophilic, which is invasive of another’s pri - vacy, which is racially or ethnically objectionable, which encourages money laundering or gam - bling, which promotes enmity on the basis of caste or religion, or which incites violence, etc. SRBs are tasked with creating age-rating mech - anisms for online real money games, which are not to be offered to users under 18. In-game pur - chases and loot boxes are covered by general laws, as there is no specific legislation for them. Industry Code of Conduct The Internet and Mobile Association of India in collaboration with the two aforementioned SRBs and the E-Gaming Federation have developed a Voluntary Code of Ethics for Online Gaming Intermediaries, emphasising fair gaming, user protection (including age-rating, KYC norms, responsible advertising, etc), and co-operation
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