India’s Supreme Court has locked in next Tuesday 4 November as the day it will hear petitions from a group of online gaming operators challenging the recently passed Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which effectively bans all online money games and related services.
The hearing brings together a raft of petitions that had been filed with the high courts of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology having sought transfer of the pending cases due to concerns that the three courts could come to inconsistent findings, creating legal uncertainty. Any other petitions before any high court on the matter will also be transferred to the Supreme Court.
The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 was passed suddenly and unexpectedly by the Indian parliament on 21 August – and received presidential ascent the following day – in a move that caught the industry off-guard. It prohibits not only online casino gaming but also skill games such as fantasy sports, esports and poker. Under the bill, anyone offering real-money online games would face a jail term of up to three years plus a fine.
The legal challenges argue that the ban on skill games violates Article 19(1)(g) which declares, “All citizens shall have the right to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.”
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