India Chief Justice Surya Kant has deferred a legal challenge to the country’s real-money gaming (RMG) ban to early 2026.
Following an appeal on Thursday from Head Digital Works (HDW), operator of A23 Rummy, Kant said the case would “likely” be heard by a three-judge bench next month. Lawyers for RMG operators, citing the urgency of the matter, argued for earlier consideration.
But Kant replied, “Everything is shut down.… We are listing in January. That is what I am promising.”
Protection or ‘paternalism’?
In August, parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA). With minimal debate and virtually no stakeholder input, it pulled the plug on all Indian RMG platforms, throwing an Rs230 billion (US$2.75 billion) industry into turmoil. A23 called the law a “product of state paternalism” and asked the court to declare it unconstitutional.
But proponents of the ban see it as a way to protect vulnerable citizens from exploitation. The Centre for the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming has further linked “unchecked expansion” of RMG to “financial fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and, in some cases, the financing of terrorism”.
Lok Sabha member Bansuri Swaraj said PROGA “unmasked the wolf for what it is”, calling it a corrosive influence that weakens society.
“For years this masquerade flourished in the shadows of legal ambiguity,” Swaraj wrote in The Week. She added that PROGA prevents RMG operators from “[hiding] behind the fig leaf of ‘skill’.”
Survey: Punters moving to offshore sites
PROGA prohibits any app or online platform that offers money-based gaming or related services. It makes no distinction between games of chance and games requiring an element of skill, such as fantasy sports.
Jaya Chahar, founder and CEO of JCDC Sports, warned that the ban “pushes fan engagement away from regulated Indian platforms into unregulated offshore spaces, which defeats the very intent of consumer protection”.
A survey cited by the Economic Times seems to support that belief. Before the ban, according to the survey, only 3.4% of users spent more than two hours on offshore platforms. After the ban, that figure grew to 44%. Players also reported spending more time on those sites.
“This rise in repetitive, high-frequency play aligns with the findings that offshore platforms are perceived as very easy to use for deposits and withdrawals,” according to the survey report. “93.7% rated the process as easy or very easy – making it simple for players to re-enter games multiple times a day.”
Meanwhile, as of mid-November, banned RMG platforms reportedly recorded asset write-downs of more than $840 million, and an estimated 7,000 Indian workers lost their jobs.
Marjorie Preston
Marjorie began her gaming career in 2007 and has focused on Asian gaming markets since 2020. Outside of work, she writes about travel and film and plays the drums.
India’s high court has delayed a constitutional challenge to the nation’s new law prohibiting real-money online gaming.