WinZO Partners with Top Academic Institutions for Skill-Based Gaming Classification

New Delhi, India, Jan 08, 2024: WinZO, a prominent vernacular skill-gaming platform, has joined forces with distinguished professors from leading institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and prestigious international universities such as Stanford University and California State University. This collaborative effort aims to revolutionize the gaming industry by establishing a transparent and unbiased statistical model for discerning games of skill from those based on chance or luck.

The initiative responds to long-standing challenges within the gaming sector, particularly the need for a reliable methodology to differentiate between skill-based games and those dependent on random outcomes. By engaging experts from renowned academic institutions, WinZO seeks to introduce a scientific model capable of accurately making this crucial distinction. This breakthrough has the potential to significantly enhance transparency and fairness within the gaming industry.

WinZO’s collaboration with esteemed academicians becomes particularly relevant in light of concerns regarding the independence and efficacy of proposed Self-Regulatory Bodies (SRBs) in India’s online gaming sector. The potential threat to early-stage innovations posed by SRBs’ access to confidential proprietary information of technology firms prompted WinZO to seek a scientific model that is not only democratic but also applicable without violating intellectual property rights.

The collaborative effort has resulted in the development of statistical tests utilizing real game data and user behavior from over 100 million users across billions of game plays. This comprehensive approach factors in various relevant elements to determine the prevalence of skill over chance in different games. The resulting methodology is poised to bring clarity to the often-debated distinction between skill and chance in gaming.

Paavan Nanda, Co-founder of WinZO, emphasized the significance of this initiative, stating, “As a gaming platform publishing games from over 100 developers, it was crucial for us to establish a transparent and accountable methodology to determine the skill level of games. By collaborating with top statisticians globally, we aim to democratize the assessment of games based on skill, empowering startups and mitigating financial challenges. This marks a significant step forward in fostering a gaming environment characterized by scientific rigor, collaboration, and objectivity.”

Dr. Neelesh S Upadhye from the Department of Mathematics at IIT Madras commended WinZO’s approach, stating, “WinZO’s method has wider implications for the digital economy in India. This private entity’s initiative showcases the leverage of data to solve emerging regulatory challenges. The collaborative effort with the best minds of the country has enabled us to construct statistical models that bring transparency and fairness to the forefront.”

Dr. Mike Orkin, Professor Emeritus at California State University, emphasized the groundbreaking nature of WinZO’s research, stating, “The comprehensive research represents a pioneering initiative by a private entity, leveraging data and statistics to solve emerging regulatory and sectoral challenges. Through the application of scientific rigor, validated by numerous statistical tests, WinZO is setting industry benchmarks in a groundbreaking advancement in the gaming domain by quantifying preponderance of skill over chance.”

WinZO’s commitment to advancing the gaming industry’s understanding of skill-based gaming extends beyond this collaboration. The platform has also partnered with leading Indian institutions to launch a cybersecurity program, Code Health and Security Evaluation (CHASE), emphasizing its broader commitment to online safety and industry innovation.