A23's founder calls for 'whitelisting' of govt-recognised gaming operators

Also announces the launch of the company's rummy fest, A23 Rummy Maha Mela, with a Rs 100 crore prize pool from October 5

Stating that the government has done "something great" in recognising the online gaming sector by bringing it under the ambit of taxation, the founder and chief executive officer of the online gaming platform A23 has said there needs to be "whitelisting" of government-recognised gaming operators.

Speaking to Business Standard over the telephone, Deepak Gullapalli said there is potential for "a lot of growth" in the real-money gaming sector in India, but regulatory clarity is needed.

"I think what we need is the whitelisting of the operators, where government-recognised companies like ours, who pay 100 per cent GST, have every transaction recorded, and everything goes through payment channels recognised by the government or RBI," he said.

"The need of the hour is for the government to recognise these companies."

Gullapalli also said this would enhance consumer protection.

He was speaking to Business Standard about the launch of A23's rummy fest, which will have a total prize pool of Rs 100 crore. The fest, A23 Rummy Maha Mela, will run for 100 days from October 5 to January 12.

He said the main goal of this event is to acquire more customers at a low cost.

"The main idea is to increase our customer base, acquire more customers at a more efficient acquisition cost, and keep the customer engaged on the platform for longer without really spending a lot of money. Players can participate in interesting formats where they can spend small amounts of money but win larger prizes," he said.

The finale of A23 Rummy Maha Mela will be held offline after January 12.

"Top 36 finalists from the online competitions will get an opportunity to compete in an offline format at an exotic location, to be revealed soon," the company said.

Gullapalli also said that after the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the online gaming sector, their revenues have not been hit, but there has been an impact on profitability.

"We are still growing at about 40 per cent annually, which is good, but profitability has taken a hit," he said, adding that it is a problem across the industry.

"We were running our business at 20-25 per cent Ebitda margins. That took a big hit, but we are trying to improve our profitability through innovation and more engagement," he added.