The leading rummy operators from India have come together and formed The Rummy Federation (TRF) with a grand launch that was scheduled on 15^th December. This is an independent body that has been set up to self-regulate the online rummy industry and encourage fair and responsible game play.

The group has been established under the Societies Registration Act and acts like the unified voice of the online rummy industry with all its stakeholders. The team comprises of the leading rummy operators Ace2Three and Play Games24x7.

The main objectives of the TRF

TRF aims to standardize the online rummy world with all the required checks and balances. The objectives of the federation are primarily to develop and promote online rummy along with streamlining the operating guidelines and provide accreditation to them. It is also going to be an independent body that will represent rummy operators in different industry forums and also with policy makers for policy advocacy.

The Rummy Federation makes it absolutely clear why rummy has always been a game of skill and any reservations that push it towards the ‘chance’ zone is absolutely unsubstantial. As rightly put by Mr. Trivikraman Thampy, co-founder and CEO of RummyCircle and member of the advisory panel of the TRF, “Rummy has always been a game of skill and not chance, and this is not just our claim. In 2016, we commissioned a study by Deloite, in which gaming patterns of users were observed for six-month periods. Players who performed well in the first six months performed equally well in the next six months, which would not have been possible had rummy been a game of chance.”

Fair Play Checks

The biggest concerns for online rummy is the fair play checks. With more and more players downloading the rummy app, the security and authenticity of the game is very important. TRF aims to make each and every game played, absolutely fair, with no element of cheating possible. The Random Number Generator (RNG) that is almost there on every rummy website will become a mandate for all rummy promoters and random audits will be done to check if all the software is running properly at the backend.

The Rummy Federation will also ensure that the rules are in conducive for the players. One significant way where it will come into play would be preventing players from cheating. When players
download the rummy game for free and think that two players can sit together and play the game with consulting each other, there will be checks in place to detect and block this immediately. As said by Mr. Thampy, “We have systems in place to check whether cards discarded by one player are consistently picked up by the other, and if this is found to be the case, necessary action is taken. Member portals will be required to adopt these same systems.”

There will also be analysis of the players spending patterns and his credit limit will be managed accordingly.

A Framework for the Government

There has also been different news floating regarding rummy online. TRF plans to create a framework for the government to adopt whenever it feels the need to regulate the game. This framework will not only help bring clarity in the game play but also will also be the first step for a nationwide regulation initiative.

The strong ground of online rummy

Online rummy stands on a firm ground as far as the future is concerned. The Indian online games industry is Rs. 900-1,200 crore and it is growing at 60-70 per cent. With India standing as the 5^th biggest nation for game downloads, online rummy is just going to get popular and widespread. Large cash prizes, big size tournaments and the best of rummy players from the country makes the online rummy platform the best place to enjoy this social game.

Online games like rummy are governed by rules like KYC, upper limit of spending and payment of taxes. With TRF coming into the future, these rules are now getting further streamlined and players can enjoy the best of games in the most secure, transparent and confident way possible.

What TRF and online rummy means to each player is a place where he can enjoy the traditional game with all the modern check and balances to protect his game play end to end.