The All India Gaming Federation partners with Arthur D. Little to reinforce its self-regulation process

Aims at laying down industry best practice and setting concrete foundations for the self-regulatory audit process

As the oldest online skill gaming industry body, the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) has been at the forefront of ensuring global best practices for its stakeholders through the self-regulation skill games charter that cover all aspects of the online gaming business. To reinforce its self-regulation process, AIGF announces partnership with Arthur D. Little (ADL), the oldest and world-renowned international management consulting firm.

Currently, the online skill gaming industry follows a self-regulatory model which incorporates the necessary checks and balances to ensure sufficient responsible gaming and protection of players. With the exponential growth seen in the industry over the last 3 years, the need to strengthen the self-regulatory process was imperative. By adopting extensive compliance audits for its members with the help of ADL, the aim is to validate the games across parameters comprising user verification standards, player protection, responsible gaming practices, financial integrity, conflict redressal, advertising and promotions as well as legal and gaming compliances.

Talking about the partnership, Mr. Roland Landers, CEO, All India Gaming Federation said, “AIGF is pleased to onboard Arthur D. Little as our Skills Games compliance partner. With the help of ADL’s expertise in understanding changing business ecosystems, we aim to support the overall online gaming industry of India. Moving forward, this exercise would help both the federation and the member stakeholders in laying down industry best practices and setting concrete foundations for the self-regulatory landscape. At the end of this exercise, the members of AIGF will receive a certificate (subject to compliance) which will be a proof of their compliance with AIGF’s self-regulatory skill gaming charter.”

The online skill gaming Industry has been consistently generating double-digit CAGR over the last 3 years. As per the EY-FICCI Report 2021, the online gaming segment grew 18% in 2020 to reach INR77 billion, as online gamers increased by 20% from 300 million in 2019 to 360 million in 2020, transaction-based game revenues increased by 21% due to fantasy sports and casual gaming revenues increased by 8%, led by in-app purchases. It is estimated that the online gaming industry will continue to grow to double revenues to INR 150 billion by 2023 & reach 500 million gamers by 2025 to become the third-largest segment of the Indian M&E sector.

Explaining the association, Mr. Barnik Chitran Maitra, Managing Partner & CEO, Arthur D. Little India and South Asia, said, “By partnering with AIGF on instituting the Skills Games Charter, Arthur D. Little is excited to support the growth of skill-based online gaming from its present annual revenues of around USD 1 Billion to potentially USD 8-10 Billion of annual revenues by 2030 as India seeks to become a formidable global force in online gaming”

There is a lack of legal uniformity because of the divergent views to the subject adopted by different states. Talking about the importance of self-regulation for the Online skill gaming industry in India, Mr. Landers further elaborated, “Now more than ever it has become imperative that the industry’s self-regulation practices should be recognized and endorsed by the relevant authorities so that it encourages additional investments leading to technological advancements as well as generation of increased revenue to the exchequer. AIGF and its advisory panel of domain experts will be happy to assist in playing a consultative role for the same. We sincerely believe that with the much needed support of the relevant policy makers across States and the Center, India can become an online gaming superpower, in the near future.”

Ideally, a centralized model that recognizes the AIGF self-regulatory mechanism for online skill games will strengthen the overall process, ensure uniformity & stability in the Industry that will give a major boost to the entire ecosystem and its stakeholders.