PlayTech’s recent online casino release, Lakshmi’s Gold has recently come under fire amongst the Hindu community. The game has been considered offensive by religious leaders, and they have requested that the game be recalled and that PlayTech issue an apology.
This seems to be a first for the gambling community. While it is not rare for religious views to conflict with the gambling world, never before has a casino operator offended a culture by portraying its gods in a game – and that’s exactly what PlayTech has done.
The company newest release, Lakshmi’s Gold, is based on the Hindu goddess of wealth and fortune. The 25-payline slots game portays Lakshmi and Ganesh, another Hindu god. Other symbols in the game include a peacock, the national bird of India, and a tiger, the national animal of the country. Cows are also included, which are a sacred symbol to Hindus. Ganesh is the scatter symbol and Lakshmi is the wild symbol.
If this all sounds absurd to you, that’s probably because it is. Online casino developers do not commonly base their games on specific religions – and while PlayTech may have believed it was taking an innovative approach to its design of this game, very few people see it the same way.
The Hindu community is outraged at the fact that PlayTech has released Lakshmi’s Gold, viewing the game as offensive to their beliefs. Rather than celebrating Hinduism, they believe that game seems to poke fun at it. Using Hindu symbolism for commercial gain is not acceptable among devotees.
As such, Hindu leader Rajan Zed has requested that the game be removed from online gambling websites. He has also requested that PlayTech issue an apology to the Hindu community for the game. PlayTech has yet to respond with a statement.
