Most Indians tag fantasy sports as online gambling, 91% seek ban on SMS publicity: Survey

Representative image.

Some online games such as rummy, poker and fantasy sports have received the clean chit from various courts as 'games of skill' but the debate seems to be far from over as many people still consider them as gambling.

A survey, covering 17,201 unique respondents, found that 65 percent want online fantasy sports to be tagged as online gaming that involves wagering and betting.

Community social media platform LocalCircles conducted the survey on issues related to online gaming and received over 33,000 responses from people across 322 districts of India.

Most respondents highlighted the issue of messages promoting online games. Unsolicited spam SMSes are being used by online gaming and fantasy sport platforms to attract new players. In many cases, these messages target children and young adults, the survey found.

Around 91 percent of the respondents called for a ban on such messages, while 6 percent said those could be allowed but only with appropriate warnings about financial risks involved.

The survey noted that platform operators term these games as 'games of skill' but most citizens believe they are a game of chance with financial risks involved. While the Supreme Court has upheld its position and the position of the Punjab High Court in 2017 and ruled that fantasy sports are a game of skill, the public view continues to differ.

Nearly two out of three respondents chose 'yes' when asked if online fantasy sports should be considered as gambling or wagering.

The survey said that one of the key discussions in various online communities over the last one year has revolved around people receiving SMS messages from online gaming and fantasy sport platforms either asking them to download the app or make their team ahead of a cricket match. Similarly, people have shared incidents of financial losses with a family member or a friend.

In other scenarios, some citizens have equated these games to state lotteries of the late eighties and early nineties where people lost money regularly but a select few called them a game of skill using the probability theory.

People have also suggested that a loss limit be placed on all such games. Around 54 percent want the loss limit per game for online and fantasy gaming to be set at Rs 50-500.

LocalCircles said that as the government looks to finalise an Online Gaming (Regulation) Bill and present it in Parliament, it will share the findings of this study with all the key stakeholders.