The IT Ministry will certify permissible online games until the online gaming industry forms a self-regulatory organisation (SRO), Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed, Economic Times reported on May 31. The recent amendments to the IT Rules require real money games to be certified by a government-approved SRO, and intermediaries, including online gaming platforms and app stores, are only allowed to host such certified real money games. However, no SRB has been formed and approved by the government for this purpose to date. "We can’t keep things hanging, waiting for an SRO. In the interim, the government can certify what is a permissible game, what is wagering, what is not wagering.” — Rajeev Chandrasekhar to ET The amended IT Rules, however, don't have any provision that allows the government to carry out the certification process, making the legality of this move questionable. Furthermore, the government's certification process could shape the way any future SRB certifies games, thus placing certain informal expectations on SRBs. How is it self-regulation then? This decision by the government comes after Economic Times on May 30 reported that Apple has asked the Indian government for a "concrete reason or a legal requirement" to comply with the government's February directive to take down betting apps from the App Store. Reacting to this article, Chandrasekhar told ET that the government will write to all major intermediaries informing them that the government will carry out the certification of real money games in the interim and that…
