Feature
Invested $20 mn in India since 2014: Facebook
New Delhi: Social media platform Facebook on Thursday said that it has given benefits to Indian app developers worth $20 million since 2014 under its FBStart initiative to help them build as well as monetise their apps.
FBStart is an initiative under which Facebook is tying up with developers who would produce apps for their platform or integrate Facebook tools and services in them. Under the programme, the social networking site has already given away benefits worth $50 million in Asia Pacific.
“App developers continue to be a very important part of our ecosystem and we also have grown from a small size, so we understand the neeed of helping the small startups that are trying to do good work. It is in our DNA,” said Facebook’s director, Product Platform Partnerships, Ime Archibong.
“Through this initiative, Facebook wants to help take care of certain aspects, so that the developers can focus on building world-class products,” he added.
India has the second highest number of developers after the US under the FBStart initiative.
“More developers are building apps with Facebook in India than any other country outside the US and today, more than 75 per cent of top-grossing apps in India are integrated with Facebook,” Archiebong said.
Pan Asia, Facebook has more than 1,000 members as part of the FbStart programme.
“With millions of people still not yet connected to the Internet in India and around the world, there is a huge opportunity for mobile developers to build some of the first experiences people have with the Internet,” he said.
Archibong said that through programmes like FbStart and Internet.Org that opened its platform to developers, Facebook aims to help build better connectivity in the world which in turn will benefit the end-user with an unique experience.
The benefits of the FBStart programme are divided into three categories with the bigger and more stable firms getting $80,000 as support along with free tools and services. The medium-sized firm or firms at a lesser maturity stage get $30,000 from the networking site. The firms more at the idea-level are awarded $15,000.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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