Responsible Gaming Measures Expected Even By Skill Game Players
Almost two-thirds or 65 per cent of 9,507 respondents to a survey recently conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles agreed that online fantasy sports involve wagering, betting and gambling and are akin to casino games. The answer “No” was selected by 14 percent, and 21 percent of the participants did not voice an opinion.
“Should online fantasy sports be considered as online gaming that involves wagering, betting and gambling?,” was how the question was formulated.
A number of judicial decisions, including a 2017 ruling of the High Court of Punjab which was later upheld by the Supreme Court, have defined games like online fantasy sports, rummy and poker as games of skill and distinguished them from a casino game or other games of chance.
However, regardless of court reasoning and legal status, the majority of Indians take note of the financial risks involved with online games even if considered skill-based, and regard them as akin to gambling and betting at Casino Days India or any other chance gaming platform operating in the country.
The LocalCircles survey received an excess of 33,000 responses from residents of 322 districts in India who had registration on the platform.
An Even Larger Majority Wants Loss Limits
Imposing limits on the amount a person can lose in an individual game was supported by 74 percent of 12,602 respondents in the same survey and almost three quarters of them, or 54 percent of the sample, answered that the limit should be ₹500 or lower.
According to the largest group of 32 percent, the limit should be as low as ₹50 per game, a distinct 20 percent, on the other hand, think that one should be able to spend up to ₹1,000 on a single game.
Only 8 percent responded that there shouldn’t be any loss caps at all, and the number of people who answered “Can’t Say” was again substantial - 18 percent.
The wording of the survey question was as follows: “Online gaming (including fantasy gaming) poses a risk of financial loss and most playing them don’t realise this until it’s too late. If the State governments fail to ban them how should loss to those playing be limited?”
A vast majority of 91 percent of 11,994 people who answered another question said that advertising practices such as sending “unsolicited spam SMS” prompting people to create online fantasy teams should be completely banned.
Public Expectations Include Social Responsibility
Again a majority of almost two thirds, this time 66 percent of 4,000 respondents globally, are more likely to play a game if it is socially responsible, according to Statista data quoted in a recently published study on the methods, tools, and achievements of responsible gaming (RG) policies by SevenJackpots.
Thus, most players “appreciate or even expect such settings”, while a quarter, or 26 percent of the 4,000 respondents gave a neutral answer, and only 8 percent disagreed they would prefer a socially responsible game.
“Being aware and setting personal limits are gaming touchstones that most players seem to stick to even without an explicit RG policy in place,” the researchers write.
“Positive online experiences are measured mostly by the “right fit” of game playing conditions, particularly in the past couple of years when even casual gamers spent more time playing.”
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