Dabur India President Amit Burman’s Poker Sports League (PSL), one of the largest poker tournaments in terms of prizes and participation, wants to raise awareness about poker in India, which has about 30-40,000 professional players of poker. PSL, which recently concluded its fourth season, is betting on its next season to reach equilibrium.
“Season 5 is where we will reach equilibrium and season 6 (roughly fiscal year 23) is when we expect to start making a profit. We want to bring international PSL and replicate this model in London, the UK and Vietnam,” he said. said Pranav Bagai, CEO and co-founder of Poker Sports League. Bagai said the company earned 8 million rupees in revenue during the first two seasons, while 10 million rupees have been invested in the league so far.
His foray into the poker industry began with ‘The Shark’ in 2008 and he has since created multiple poker-related IPs, published India’s first poker magazine (Card Player India) and provided consulting. to the leading online poker operators in India.
PSL’s parent company, Mind Sports League (MSL) is valued at about 40 million rupees. Bagai said his main goal is to get people to know poker as a mental sport instead of playing it.
“MSL has three verticals. Our main goal is to make poker accessible to everyone. How do we do that? One is the offline part that is PSL. The second vertical is Hashtag Poker, which is our video application. which will be released soon and is based on games with non-real money, “he said. MSL’s third vertical, Bagai said, is a transmission vertical that goes up to Voot. “We want to go beyond streaming content to Voot and present it to everyone. We’re working on two reality shows and one fiction show,” he added.
With regard to regulation, section 12 of the Public Gaming Act of 1867 states that games of mere skill are exempt from the application of the Act. A game of skill, according to various High Courts, is one in which the skill element dominates the random element. The International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), an association of the world’s governing bodies for games such as contract bridge, chess, drafts, go, xiangqi, and mahjong, recognizes poker as a “mental sport.”
Poker experts and industry veterans have called for clarity on regulation so that gambling can have the status of a real industry.
“We are launching the Hashtag Poker video app to make people aware that it is a game of skill. That’s why there is no real money. We don’t want people to be irresponsible and do what other RMG (real money games) players do. We are developing your entire user journey from being exposed to the game to learning and playing responsibly, “said Bagai.
If poker winners are charged 30 percent TDS for their victory, one wonders, why can’t it be recognized as a real sport?
“In addition, there are many ways to create jobs in the field of technology, streaming, etc. It will only grow. Depending on their bets, professionals can earn between 20 lakhs and one crore a year, ”he said.
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