Power Play: Regulatory Frameworks of Esports in Asia and Europe

This paper, presented at DiGRA 2020, examines how regulatory frameworks shape the development of esports across Europe and China, with particular attention to data protection and gambling. Its central argument is that esports, as a global industry driven by multinational companies, faces a significant ethical and legal challenge that will strongly influence its future. The authors frame the field as lacking any formal global governance structure beyond promotional bodies and game publishers, which leaves issues such as cheating, match fixing, doping, and betting largely unresolved.

The analysis centers on two geographically delimited regimes. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation, in force since 2018, is described as conflicting with esports business practices such as licensing players' personal and even biometric data to third parties. The paper reports that in the regulation's first twelve months it produced fines exceeding €56 million across 91 companies. China's 2019 draft cyber regulations largely mirror GDPR principles but adopt a more permissive consent model, requiring only implied consent for non-sensitive personal information, and EU-to-China data transfers require "appropriate safeguards" because China lacks an adequacy designation.

The authors also highlight possible shifts in the industry's geography. South Korea's potential inclusion on the GDPR adequacy list could help it expand from competitive dominance into production and tournament organization, areas currently led by China. Gambling is presented as a case study, since betting in traditional sports is heavily regulated while in-game item gambling in esports is only beginning to draw scrutiny. The paper concludes that new regulatory frameworks are needed globally to make esports a fair and sustainable cultural activity and industry, and it outlines several future scenarios arising from these tensions.