Isle of Man headquartered company Playtech has reportedly
withdrawn its recently launched Hindu goddess Lakshmi themed online slot game
titled Lakshmi Gold, which upset Hindus.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who spearheaded the protest,
calling identifying of slot gambling with Hindu deities as “highly
inappropriate”, has thanked and commended the company for showing
responsibility, respect and maturity by taking quick action and for having an
understanding for the hurt feelings of worldwide Hindu community. It was a
“step in the right direction” but a statement of apology by the company would
still have been better, he added in a statement in Nevada (USA) today.
According to reports, wild symbol in this game was Hindu
deity Ganesh, which offered the jackpot payout of 10,000 coins. Other regular
symbols in this game included cow, which is sacred to Hindus. Lakshmi was the
bonus symbol in this five reel 25 payline video slot and a hymn to Lakshmi was
delivered during the free spins. Claimed to be suitable for high rollers, it
reportedly went live for few days at some Playtech online casinos and reports
suggest that it is not available anymore at those casinos.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, had
stressed that Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh, who were highly revered in
Hinduism, were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for
promoting gambling on an online slot for mercantile greed of an online gaming
company.
Rajan Zed had urged Playtech to immediately recall this slot
game showing Hindu Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh. Inappropriate usage of
Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it
hurt the devotees, he had stated.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the
world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it
should not be taken lightly. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should
not be mishandled, Zed noted.
Rajan Zed further said that Hindus were for free expression
and speech as much as anybody else if not more, but faith was something sacred
and attempts at trivializing it were disturbing for the devotees. Businesses
should be respectful to various faith traditions, Zed added.
In Hinduism, Lakshmi is the goddess of good fortune and
beauty and is also known as ‘world-mother’. Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of
wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any
major undertaking. Moksh (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism.
Founded in 1999, Playtech, whose tagline is "Source of Success", claims to be "the world’s largest publicly-traded online gaming software supplier". Besides Isle of Man headquarters, it has units in United Kingdom, Sweden, Estonia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Israel. Roger Withers is its Board Chairman while Mor Weizer is Chief Executive Officer. The Isle of Man is autonomous dependency of British Crown.