The Supreme Courton Tuesday suggested that regular competitions and tournaments might not fall under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, since they don’t count as “betting and gambling”.
A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan was hearing a plea from a “chess player” who said he plays online for a “livelihood” and was about to launch an app. Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman, representing the Union Government, said the petitioner “does not play tournaments”.
[img=1px,1px]https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg[/img]The petitioner’s counsel denied that his client was involved in betting or gambling, explaining that these were online tournaments hosted by companies. “I pay a participation fee and take a prize,” he said.
Justice Pardiwala agreed to tag this plea with a group of similar petitions filed by online platforms challenging the new law.
“You say you are a player, that you want to play, it is your only source of income and you want to join these proceedings here. Are you betting or gambling? How do you raise an income?” Justice Pardiwala asked the player’s lawyer.
The lawyer said his client was a chess player who took part in “tournaments”.
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Court’s observations on tournaments
“Then there is no problem for you [from the Act]. They [the government] does not object to tournaments. Tournaments are completely excluded,” Justice Pardiwala said.
Adding to it, he asked the chess player, “Why come here? Now, really, tell us, are you playing in tournaments or not?”.
Next hearing scheduled for November 26
The Court set November 26 for a detailed hearing, after senior advocate CA Sundaram and advocate Rohini Musa, representing the platforms, urged for an early date.
“We have been shut down for a month,” Sundaram said.
In an earlier hearing, he had told the Court that the law had left companies with no “avenue of functioning”, forcing them to lay off staff. The companies have requested an interim stay on the 2025 Act.
The Bench directed the government to submit a detailed response to the petitions.
The government defended the law, saying it was necessary to control the rapid spread of online money games that posed “serious risks for individuals, families and the nation”. It said such games had exploited legal loopholes and caused deep social harm.
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According to the Centre, about 45 crore people have suffered losses of more than Rs 20,000 crore because of these games.
On September 8, the Supreme Court took over all the petitions challenging the law that were pending before different High Courts, including those in Delhi, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Petitions filed by online gaming platforms argued that the law violates the right to equality, freedom of expression and federal principles and ignores the distinction between games of skill and games of chance.
On August 20, the Lok Sabhaapproved the Online Gaming Bill, 2025. The Rajya Sabhacleared it the next day and it became law on August 22 after the President’s approval. The 2025 law bans real-money online games, including fantasy sports, e-sports and banking services connected to them and their advertisements. |
