Gaming Laws in Nigeria

 The Position of Gaming Laws IN Nigeria

Games, regardless of whether through betting, or well known social or easygoing games, are delighted in by individuals of all age bunches over the globe for their diversion esteem. Truth be told, betting, independent of its numerous indecencies, has been a piece of the Indian culture since days of yore. Indeed, even before the six side bones was concocted, Indians utilized the nuts of the Bibhitaki tree as bones. References to betting can be followed to the Mahabharata, one of India's most established legendary sagas, in which the adversaries were tried dependent on their aptitudes at board and shakers games instead of through wars. Given the high development capability of the gaming business in India, numerous outside elements are investigating prospects to set up tasks here. Comparable patterns are reflected in numerous industry related research reports which state that few worldwide gaming firms have opened workplaces in India or have consented to dispersion arrangements with driving Indian versatile game designers so as to circulate their items in India.

Overview of the Legal Framework Regulating The Gambling Industry

A Physical Gambling and Sports Betting Under the Constitution of India, the state governing bodies have been depended with the ability to outline state explicit laws on 'wagering and gambling'.The Public Gambling Act, 1867 ('Public Gambling Act') has been embraced by a few states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Different states in India have instituted their own enactment to control gaming/betting exercises inside its region ("Gambling Legislations" or "Gaming Legislations"). The vast majority of these Gambling Legislations were ordered before the approach of virtual/web based betting and hence fundamentally allude to betting exercises occurring in physical premises, characterized as "gaming or normal gaming houses". Some of the major state laws regarding gaming are given below:

Punjab Public Gambling Act, 1867 ƒ

Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008 ƒ

Tamil Nadu City Police Gaming Rules, 1949 ƒ

Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 ƒ

The Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act, 1974 ƒ

The Andhra Pradesh Gaming Rules, 1976 ƒ

The Delhi Public Gambling Act, 1955 ƒ

The J. & K. Public Gambling Act, 1977 ƒ

The Kerala Gambling Act, 1960 ƒ

The Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970 ƒ

The Pondicherry Gaming Act, 1965 ƒ

The Rajasthan Public Gambling Ordinance, 1949 ƒ

The West Bengal Gambling and Prize Competitions Act, 1957 ƒ

The West Bengal Gambling Rules, 1958 ƒ

Uttar Pradesh Public Gambling Act,1961

All Gambling Legislations prescribe penalties which are more or less similar. The Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887 imposes a fine and imprisonment for offenders. A first offence is punishable with a fine of at least INR 500 (approximately USD 8) and 3 months’ imprisonment, a second offence is punishable with a fine of at least INR 1,000 (approximately USD 15-20) and imprisonment for 6 months. and a third or subsequent offence entails a fine of at least INR 2,000 (approximately USD 30-35) and imprisonment for one year.

Rounds of Skill Outside The Purview of Gambling

The Gambling Legislations give that the limitations would not make a difference to rounds of "negligible ability". The Supreme Court of India ("SC") has deciphered the words "unimportant ability" to incorporate games which are dominantly of ability and have set out that (I) the rivalries where achievement relies upon generous level of ability won't fall into class of 'betting'; and (ii) regardless of there being a component of possibility, on the off chance that a game is prevalently a round of ability, it would by and by be a round of "negligible skill".Whether a game is of possibility or aptitude is an issue of actuality to be chosen the realities and conditions of each case.The legal view has been severe in such manner. Therefore, it might be conceivable that games which fulfill the trial of "expertise versus possibility" are definitely not directed under the Gambling Legislations and might be legitim`ately offered through the physical as well as virtual mediums (counting web and portable), all through India.

Licenses for Gaming
While all the above legislations prohibit gambling in common gaming houses, there are certain state legislations that have legalised some form of gambling and issue specific licenses to the gambling / gaming establishments. For instance, the West Bengal Gambling & Prize Competition Act, 1957 (“WB Act”) specifically excludes ‘games of cards like Bridge, Poker, Rummy or Nap’ from the definition of “gaming and gambling”. The WB Act further exempts games of skill from its ambit, however provides that where such games are played in public markets, fairs, carnivals, streets or any other place to which the public have access, a permit is required from the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta or the District Magistrate or the Sub-divisional magistrate when such game is played in any place where the public may have access.

Further, under the Sikkim Gaming Laws, an interested person can obtain a “license” for the purpose of conducting online games such as Roulette, Black-jack, Pontoon, Puntobanco, Bingo, Casino Brag, Poker, Poker dice, Baccarat, Cheminde-for, Backgammon, Keno and Super Pan 9 and sports betting, including its organization, management or promotion or negotiation or receipt of bets. A licensee can take the prior approval of the state government to offer any other /addition online games under the license.

The Nagaland Gambling Law only permits skill- based games. Licenses allow operators to organize betting or wagering on online games of skill or to make a profit through the operation of online platforms for playing games of skill. Games of skill are all games where there is a preponderance of skill over chance, and include card-based games (such as poker, rummy and solitaire), quiz/strategy-based games (such as chess or sudoku) and action, sports and adventure games (such as fantasy leagues and virtual sports) (Nagaland Gambling Law).

Under the Nagaland Gambling Law, a licenses can be granted to an individual, a public company or a limited liability company incorporated in India and with a substantial holding and controlling stake in India (that is, the ownership of more than 50% of a company’s voting stock must be Indian). Only entities that have no interest in any online or offline gambling activities in India or overseas can apply for a license. Applicants must not have any criminal history or have been charged with, or convicted for, any offence under the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 or for money laundering in India and abroad. Firms and companies must ensure that their controlling stake remains in India and that all executive decisions are taken in India. The operations of both the companies holding the license and those providing technology support (such as the platform, software, servers and so on) must be controlled, maintained and operated from India.

The developments in relation to online gambling, sports betting as well as legislative developments in the State of Nagaland has been discussed in the Annexures. In an interesting development, on December 28, 2018, the Sports (Online Gaming and Prevention of Fraud) Bill, 2018, (“Sports Bill”) was introduced as a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha.18 The Sports Bill was introduced on the heels of the Law Commission’s report on legalizing betting and gambling in India. However, the Sports Bill has now lapsed and will need to be re-introduced in Parliament.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Sports Bill underscored that it has been introduced with the dual aims of (i) preserving integrity in sports and (ii) introducing a regulatory regime for online sports betting. Accordingly, the Sports Bill had been divided into two parts. The first part contained provisions for the prevention of sports fraud. The second part contained provisions for the regulation of online sports betting.

Laws affecting the content of the game

Pornographic and Obscenity Laws Many games and gaming websites in India include content which may be considered objectionable under the pornographic and obscenity laws of India. For instance, some of the popular websites offer games which have animated caricatures of human beings, including women, depicted in a manner which may be construed as offensive as per the moral standards of India.

Indian Penal Code,1860 and the Information Technology Act, 2008

The Indian Penal Code (“IPC”) and the Information Technology Act, 2008 (“IT Act”) penalize the publication, distribution and transmission of obscene content. The IPC inter alia prohibits the sale, hire, distribution, exhibition, and circulation of any obscene object and also penalizes any person who engages, advertises, promotes, offers, or attempts to do any obscene activity. The IT Act inter alia penalizes the transmission of any obscene content or sexually explicit material in electronic form, including child pornographic content. As per the IPC and the IT Act, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or which may deprave and corrupt persons, is considered obscene. In determining whether or not the games and the images depicted in the games are lascivious or appeal to the prurient interest, the court takes into consideration factors such as - (a) whether the work taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest; (b) whether the work is patently offensive; (c) whether the work taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. The court also takes into account other factors depending on the facts and circumstances of the case.

Indecent Representation of Women The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

prohibits any indecent representation of women i.e. the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman, her form or body in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating, women, or that likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals. The statute prohibits any such depiction, whether through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner and provides for penalty in connection with the same. The mode of transmission of advertisements is not specified and it may be construed that such advertisement may also be transmitted through the electronic form. This legislation also penalizes the Section 292, 293 and 294 of the IPC and 67, 67A and 67B.  The circulation of any material (including a film, any writing or drawing) containing any indecent representation of women, and may get attracted if the casual games represent women in the manner stated herein above.

Laws Affecting Action based and Violent Games

Many popular casual games, such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, etc., are action based games which specifically appeal to young gamers. While the linkage between exposure of certain forms of games to teenagers and violence in society has not been tested in Indian courts, this issue has been subject to enormous interest and controversy in the USA, Europe, and other Asian countries. Some US states, including California, have previously passed laws to regulate the sale of certain types of videos to children, but the US Supreme Court invalidated the same saying that video games formed part of the constitutional right to free speech and hence could not be regulated. The Supreme Court also ruled that there was evidence indicating that these video games cause violence in society. However, despite this ruling, the state of New Jersey is mulling over a law restricting the sale of video games to minors.

Intellectual Property Rights Issues Casual

Games are often theme based in nature and use pictures, musical notes, figures, characters etc. to add to the appeal of the games. Since all such works are subject to copyright protection in their individual right, the use of such copyrighted material in the games, without taking adequate permissions/licenses from the owner of copyrighted material, can trigger copyright infringement issues under the Copyright Act, 1957. The owner of the copyright can take civil or criminal action against the infringer.

In India, a user of an unregistered trademark cannot sue another party for infringement of its trademark but may institute only a passing off action against the defaulting party. However, to successfully defend a passing off action, the proprietor of the title will need to prove that the titles of the games (especially popular games), or get-up of the title logos is distinctive, and the public identifies these with the proprietor, which would not be required if the trademark is registered. The proprietor will also need to prove that the defaulting party has been using the marks deceptively and passing off their goods or services as that of the former.