‘Overlooks essential safeguards’: CCAOI report flags India’s gaming risks
As India’s gaming industry grows rapidly, a new report by the Cyber Café Association of India (CCAOI) has raised serious concerns about player safety and responsible gaming measures across online platforms.
The independent study, “Towards Responsible Gaming in India: A Review of Regulatory Practices of Online Gaming Platforms,” analysed publicly available policies and practices of 22 leading online gaming platforms in India. It assessed how these companies address key areas including age verification, grievance redressal, cybersecurity, and responsible gaming obligations.
Age-verification and redressal systems fall short
The findings highlight significant shortcomings across the sector. The report noted that most platforms relied only on self-declarations at sign-up without robust KYC checks — leaving minors vulnerable to accessing adult-only games. Age verification was often carried out too late, such as at the withdrawal or incident-reporting stage.
Grievance redressal was also a concern, with 41% of platforms failing to publicly list a grievance officer as required under India’s IT Rules, 2021. Only 22% offered a dedicated incident reporting option for cybersecurity or fraud.
Weak cybersecurity practices
Cybersecurity practices were found to require significant strengthening. The report noted that only 22% of platforms provided a dedicated mechanism for reporting cybersecurity incidents or fraud, separate from grievance redressal channels. It also observed that proactive measures like two-factor authentication and regular security audits were not standard across the industry, and compliance with CERT-In’s cybersecurity directives remained inconsistent.
Recommendations for reform
at the login stage, better data security protocols, transparent grievance redressal processes, and industry-wide promotion of responsible gaming tools like self-exclusion and session time limits.
CCAOI Director urges action
Speaking exclusively to SiGMA World, Amrita Choudhury, Director of CCAOI, said: “As an organisation representing internet users and non-users, CCAOI advocates for a transparent, secure, and safe online gaming environment. This report shows that while the industry is growing rapidly, it often overlooks essential safeguards — especially for minors. We urge policymakers and gaming companies to act on these findings and establish enforceable standards. The most urgent reform is mandatory ID-based age verification at the login stage — a simple yet powerful step to curb underage access and ensure user safety.”
Stronger compliance key to sustainable growth
The report concludes that although some online gaming platforms in India have adopted responsible gaming and legal compliance measures, most still have a long way to go. With India’s online gaming market projected to reach USD 5 billion by 2025, uniform compliance will be critical to protecting players and creating a sustainable, safe gaming environment.
