Monthly Archives: September 2021

The online gaming industry across India is growing at an extraordinary rate. As of 2021, the industry is valued at around $900 million. But projections estimate its value will rise to a phenomenal $112 billion by 2025. This would suggest an overhaul of existing online gaming regulations is required, especially for online gambling activities.

The increased interest in online gaming in India has been attributed to multiple factors, not least having one of the youngest populations in the world. When youth and online gaming typically marry hand in hand, its easy to see why the country is becoming a hotbed for gaming. Other reasons for the uprising in gaming are widespread internet access and around 750 million residents owning smartphones.

Online casinos in India

The online gambling industry is one piece of the online gaming pie that is becoming more popular. Accessibility is one of the reasons for this, but another is that game developers are now creating casino games that merge classic games with Indian culture. For example, a Hindi version of crowd-favourite roulette can be found at some of the best sites, and local Rummy games are being revolutionised online, making some games more appealing than ever before.

But, is online gambling even legal?

There is no straight answer to whether online gambling is legal in India, and it is somewhat of a grey area. The country is divided into 27 autonomous states, each with jurisdiction over its own online gaming laws, and therefore different rules apply across the country. Sometimes a distinction is made between games of luck and skill.

At a national level, three pieces of legislation govern online gambling despite some of them being written before online casino websites existed. They were enacted in 1867, 1955 and 2000.

The Public Gaming Act 1867 states that gambling is illegal, although the internet had not even been invented at this time. Whereas The Prize Competition Act 1955 states that competitions are unlawful when the winnings of those competitions exceed a prize pool of 1,000 Rupees each month. However, the Information Technology Act 2000 does not explicitly state that online gambling is illegal.

Online gambling regulations overhaul needed.

The current state of play regarding online gambling legislation is considered dangerous to the Indian economy. The nation clearly has a thriving market for online gambling, and local casino sites could generate large amounts of taxation for the country. By legalising online casinos, the economy would also benefit from hundreds if not thousands of new jobs and more tax for the government.

In the same breath, it will prevent Indian residents and citizens from choosing to play at illegal casino sites or underground casinos where there are more significant risks to their safety and money. Moreover, it would stop them from being lured towards legal overseas casinos, which contribute to the successes of other countries with thriving gaming industries. In a nutshell, India may be missing a trick in its own backyard.

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India's Attitude to Online Gaming - The Citizen

Internet Vikings has partnered with PlayStar Casino to support the Swedish operators big push into the US market.

The supplier will provide its hosting services to PlayStar as it embarks on its inaugural US iGaming venture, with its operations in New Jersey expected to be up and running by early 2022.

Commenting on this new partnership, Adam Noble, PlayStars Chief Business Development Officer, said: We are thrilled to enter this agreement with Internet Vikings to support our launch into New Jersey. Sportsbook and iGaming hosting is a very different landscape in the US compared to Europe and that presents a number of challenges.

This partnership allows us to get on with our core business, safe in the knowledge that our technology stack is in good hands.

Internet Vikings has a longstanding reputation in the European iGaming space, and went Stateside in July 2021 with the launch of its services in West Virginia and Colorado.

This agreement will mark the providers expansion into New Jersey, a crucial jurisdiction for any business involved in the US online gambling sector, but a difficult one to break into.

The East Coast state brought in 21.5% of the total US online sports handle out of 15 states for the first half of 2021, and it reported a dramatic increase of 29% in online gaming revenues for August when compared to the same time last year, totalling $113.2m.

We are extremely proud for two reasons. First of all, entering New Jersey is an achievement on its own. Currently, its the most sought after, yet difficult to enter, state in the US, said Peter Ekmark, Internet Vikings CEO.

Secondly, we are very excited to continue this journey alongside our clients who place their trust in us and our products to support them at such a pivotal stage of their business lifecycle, and we are not planning to stop here.

We will continue to expand and transform so that we can fulfil the needs of our clients at every step of their growth process.

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Internet Vikings to host PlayStar Casinos operations in New Jersey - Gambling Insider - In-depth Analysis for the Gaming Industry

Consumers splashed out on food delivery, electronics and gambling apps during the 2021 lockdown, but reined in spending on homewares and office equipment.

Data on Australian spending produced by consultancy Accenture and credit bureau illion, which draws on anonymised bank transaction data, reveals how the countrys second extended lockdown has built on trends that began in 2020.

It showed that home delivery, a pandemic boom sector, continued its surge in recent months. In 2020, delivery spending shot up to 132% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

In 2021 it jumped to levels 203% higher than the norm.

The data shows the significant rise in spending on consumer electronics, pets and alcohol, consistent with last years lockdowns, has been repeated this time around.

However, the soaring investment in homewares and home offices in 2020 when the majority of the countrys office employees were forced to work from home did not, with spending on furniture, office equipment and hardware in Sydney and Melbourne much lower over the past four months.

Spending on online gambling has similarly peaked in Australias two biggest cities in the most recent lockdowns, at 329% above normal levels.

That surpasses the gambling surge during last years lockdown, which hit levels 215% above the pre-pandemic norm.

Andrew Charlton, managing director at Accenture, said national data showed online gambling spending had been elevated since the 2020 lockdowns, signalling what could be a lasting shift in consumer behaviour.

It appears many people have been introduced to online gambling during lockdowns, Charlton said.

The figures also show that when lockdowns were imposed in March of 2020, spending on consumer electronics leapt to 160% above normal levels, before falling back to pre-pandemic norms earlier this year.

But over the last three months, the amount spent on electronics has again surged, up to almost 150% above usual pre-pandemic spending levels.

Similarly the amount Sydney and Mebournes locked down residents shelled out on their pets rebounded this lockdown period. Spending during this years lockdowns is currently 66% higher than pre-pandemic norms, with the data suggesting this area of expenditure saw an uptick during 2020s stay-at-home orders and have remained elevated since.

The data shows supermarket spending skyrocketed in the early weeks of last years lockdown, as panic buying sparked by uncertainty around the pandemic drove consumers to stock up. Spending in April last year was 123% above the average for that month.

This behaviour did not carry over in a meaningful way into the beginning of the second extended lockdown, with consumption in late June sitting around the average pre-pandemic levels.

Food delivery spending has been slowly rising and continued to do so in the months between the first and second periods of lockdown.

In April last year, the amount spent was around 120% higher than pre-pandemic averages.

However by January of 2021 this had reached almost 200%, and by July of this year food delivery spending was almost 200% above pre-pandemic levels.

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Locked-down Australians have been splurging on food delivery, electronics and online gambling, according to new data - Business Insider Australia