{"id":777028841,"date":"2025-07-09T10:28:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T13:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028841"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:08:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:08:59","slug":"new-bill-seeks-to-license-skill-games-and-ban-online-betting-in-karnataka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-bill-seeks-to-license-skill-games-and-ban-online-betting-in-karnataka","title":{"rendered":"New bill seeks to license skill games and ban online betting in Karnataka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government says the bill would protect consumers and bring regulatory clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

India.- The Karnataka government has proposed an amendment to the Karnataka Police Act that would establish a dedicated regulatory authority to oversee real-money skill gaming and enforce a ban on online betting involving games of chance. The Karnataka Online Gaming and Betting Regulatory Authority (KOGBRA) would be created as a four-member body tasked with licensing, monitoring, and enforcing compliance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill aims to draw a clear legal line between games of skill and games of chance. All forms of online gambling involving games of chance would be prohibited, whether using money, tokens, virtual currency, or electronic funds. Skill-based games would be allowed, subject to regulation and licensing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed regulatory authority would have the mandate to classify games based on judicial precedents, monitor unregistered and illegal platforms, coordinate with law enforcement and IT departments to block access to illegal betting services, launch public awareness campaigns on gambling-related risks and develop compliance standards for player protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skill gaming platforms seeking to operate in Karnataka would be required to obtain a licence, renewable every three years, and implement responsible gaming measures, including spending caps, time limits, and self-exclusion options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operators of unregistered platforms or those involved in games of chance could face up to three years in prison and fines of up to \u20b91 lakh (US$ 1,200). Promoting or advertising illegal betting may result in six months’ imprisonment and a \u20b910,000 fine. The bill also introduces incentives for whistleblowers who provide intelligence on illegal betting operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis bill is not about stifling innovation, it\u2019s about ensuring a fair, transparent, and responsible gaming environment,\u201d said Karnataka IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Allahabad High Court calls for overhaul of online gambling laws in India<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government says the bill would protect consumers and bring regulatory clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":10356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Karnataka government has proposed an amendment to the Karnataka Police Act, establishing the Karnataka Online Gaming and Betting Regulatory Authority (KOGBRA) to oversee real-money skill gaming and enforce a ban on online betting involving games of chance. This initiative aims to provide regulatory clarity, differentiate between skill and chance games, and implement stringent licensing and responsible gaming measures for permitted skill-based platforms. The bill includes significant penalties for non-compliance and incentives for whistleblowers.","focusai_entities":"Karnataka government, Karnataka Online Gaming and Betting Regulatory Authority (KOGBRA), Priyank Kharge, Allahabad High Court","focusai_location":"India, Karnataka","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.85), product_ux (0.8), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"KOGBRA's Enforcement Scope","query":"How will KOGBRA's enforcement capabilities, particularly regarding cross-border illegal betting platforms and virtual currency transactions, be practically implemented and measured for effectiveness?"},{"label":"Skill vs. Chance Classification","query":"What specific judicial precedents will KOGBRA leverage to definitively classify games as skill-based versus chance-based, and what appeal mechanisms will be available for operators disputing classifications?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16334],"tags":[58,24824,225],"class_list":["post-777028841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-india","tag-karnataka","tag-legislation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028841"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028857,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028841\/revisions\/777028857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}