Hindus are upset at Hindu god Shiva themed slot gambling game titled “Shiva”, calling it highly inappropriate.
Developed by Merkur Division of Espelkamp (Germany) headquartered Gauselmann Group, “Shiva” slot gambling machine shows a blue four-armed Lord Shiva with dark red lips carrying damru in one hand. This five-reels and 50 win-lines gambling machine, besides Lord Shiva symbol (which substitutes all symbols) also shows symbols of cobra, Taj Mahal, monkey, etc. “Step into the realm of the god Shiva and experience an exciting adventure!” a website announcement says. It can be played live on various online casinos.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, noted that Lord Shiva, who was highly revered in Hinduism, was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for promoting gambling on slots for mercantile greed of an international company.
Rajan, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged Gauselmann AG and its chairman Paul Gauselmann to publicly apologise and immediately recall this slot game showing Hindu Lord Shiva. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees, Rajan pointed out.
“Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about a 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,” Rajan said.
Globally active Gauselmann Group, launched in 1957, claims to be ‘world’s leading gaming companies’ which reportedly did over €1.8 billion business in 2013. Merkur Gaming, whose tagline is “More than just a game”, has a large game selection and develops ‘cutting-edge casino machines’ with presence in various countries of Europe; besides Mexico, Peru and Colombia.
At an earlier instance Rajan, also raised an issue about usage of deities Ganesh and Lakshmi on slot machines developed by Playtech.