Prohibition of betting and gambling

Transcript:

Did you know that the Supreme Court has recently flipped the script on online real money games? Rummy, teen-patti, poker—they all constitute betting and gambling now. 

Recently, the Supreme Court in State of Tamil Nadu v Junglee Games India and Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence v Gameskraft Technologies Private Limited noted that States can make laws to ban such online games to maintain public order and eradicate the “evils of gambling”. 

While that might sound obvious, the law for the last seventy years was exactly the opposite. For decades, courts protected games like rummy because they required skill, not pure luck. 

In cases like R. M. D. Chamarbaugwala v The Union Of India (1957) and State of Andhra Pradesh v K. Satyanarayanan (1968) the Supreme Court drew clear lines: The State could only enact laws to ban games of pure chance, such as teen-patti. Games of skill, like rummy, could not be banned by the State. 

Everything changed with the enactment of The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, also known as the PROG Act in 2025. The Act banned online money games, regardless of skill or chance. In May of this year, the Supreme Court weighed in, clarifying that games of skill, when played with stakes, constituted gambling. In other words, the skill versus chance debate in the definition of gambling is no longer relevant.

But this is not just about gamers and gaming companies. The judgements of the Court have consequences on the Federal Structure of the country as well. 

Whether the State government is empowered to prohibit games of skill under Entry 34 of List II of the Seventh Schedule or if the Parliament can regulate an industry that falls squarely under the State list is still an open question. The answer to this remains pending before the three-judge Bench in a challenge against the PROG Act 2025. 

Want to know more? The Supreme Court Observer has all the details about the challenge against the PROG Act on our case page. On our website, you will find a detailed timeline of the Court’s rulings on gambling and analysis by expert authors on the matter. You can also access the latest judgements on gambling laws on our SCO.LR page. 

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