Boria Majumdar
Real-money gaming is all set to be banned. And in very simple terms, it means a death knell to what we have all termed as the fantasy sports industry. Add rummy, poker and other such platforms to it, and you know you are talking big money. Lakhs of jobs are at stake and thousands of crores will be lost in taxes as well.
The economic costs of the bill is massive. The exchequer does stand to lose out. And significantly. And yet, the government appears determined to push it through with amazing swiftness. A deep dive reveals one fundamental truth – the fight is between politics and economics. Preserving India’s social fabric versus losing thousands of crores. The government has chosen politics over economics. A stable and healthier society rather than a key source of revenue. It aims to strengthening familial ties and stop corrosive gaming platforms from eroding them. It intends to protect India’s youth who were all getting intoxicated by the lure of digital real-money gaming.
The bill is rooted in the government’s determination to protect India’s social fabric. With countries across the world already waging war against real-money gaming, India can’t buck the trend. Money alone can’t talk. The murmurs of the impact the industry was having on societal bonds were getting louder, and the very essence of what we call Indianness was getting challenged. The government had to act, and do so decisively.
It would be naïve to suggest that the government doesn’t know how much money it would be losing. It most certainly does. And yet, it is willing to take the risk and push the bill through. The image of the Prime Minister, for example, is that of a moral custodian. He stands for a global, resilient India, and yet one firmly rooted in tradition. And here, tradition rests on familial bonds, which are key to rural and semi-urban India. With the youth being consumed by the world of real-money gaming, we could see growing strains in these bonds. India was changing, and not always for the better. The government now thinks that it is too much. In fact, the question was always: how much is too much? Now, we know the answer.
Yes, some sectors and sponsorships will get impacted. But when you consider the macro picture, that of safeguarding India, you know that that’s a small price to pay. You need to win the war and protect your youth, and when doing so, a few thousand crores don’t matter. The central government’s projection as the protector of India’s moral fabric gets a serious boost through this bill, and it is something non-negotiable for the government.
The industry had grown too fast. And it was becoming all-consuming. Every second person was consumed by it, and addicted. In the process, mothers were losing their sons, sisters were losing brothers, and basic bonds were getting impacted with the new addiction all-pervasive. Youth were running up huge debts and salaries were getting wiped out. Such things needed to stop, and in the absence of any form of judicial intervention, the government was the last resort. It was an ideological issue, and that has trumped economics in this case. Politics over economics – that’s the truth.
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