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Can’t ban games of skills like Rummy, Poker: Madras high court
The high court observed that it is necessary for state to know about the online games providers operating within its ambit
The Madras high court on Thursday upheld portions of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, but ruled that the state government can ban only games of chance and not games of skill such as Rummy and Poker.
A bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and justice PD Audikesavalu passed the order based on a batch of petitions filed by the All India Gaming Federation and several online gaming companies challenging the constitutional validity of the Act. “The prayer to declare the entire impugned Act of 2022 as ultra vires is negated,” the bench said. “The Schedule of the impugned Act, including the games of rummy and poker, are set aside.”
The court observed that it is necessary for the state to know about the online games providers operating within its ambit and that they are not indulging in any games of chance. “If the state comes across the usage of bots or any dubious methods in the play of games of rummy and poker, it can take action…,” the court said, while giving the state the liberty to frame reasonable regulations for the time limit, age restriction for playing online games.
While observing that the state is competent to legislate to the extent of prohibiting online gambling, which is games of chance, the court said that the state has got no authority to regulate online games of skill.
“The state has miserably failed to demonstrate that online games of rummy and poker are different and distinct from offline games of rummy and poker,” the court said. “The apprehension expressed by the state that bots may be used or the dealer [software] would know the cards are without any substantive material.”
The state legislative assembly had unanimously passed the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Games Bill on October 19, 2022.
The state police officials claimed that 44 people have died by suicide due to online gambling in the last two years. But, governor RN Ravi had returned the bill after 131 days, so the state assembly passed the bill again in March 2023 for it to come to effect.
Meanwhile, gaming associations welcomed the high court’s decision. “We are truly grateful for this landmark decision upholding the difference between games of skill and chance in line with over six decades of jurisprudence on the subject,” said Roland Landers, CEO, All India Gaming Federation. “Being the apex industry body for online skill gaming and the voice of the MSME gaming start-ups, we believe that this decision will be a great boost for this sunrise sector and generate more certainty among investors and the gaming community at large, and is a step in the right direction for this sunrise sector.”
There are cases involving online games, including online poker and rummy before different high courts including in Karnataka and Kerala, leading to divergent views. A raft of appeals from the high court judgments on the subject are pending before the Supreme Court.
Currently, there is only one law that regulates gambling in India – The Public Gambling Act, 1867. This legislation lays down that the state governments can frame their own laws by adopting the 1867 Act.
