TN ordinance likely to be challenged; gaming federations term rummy, poker as games of skill

CHENNAI: After Governor RN Ravi promulgated an ordinance to ban online games such as rummy and poker terming them as "games of chance", All India Gaming Federation urged the Tamil Nadu government to reconsider the ordinance, claiming that rummy and poker were "games of skill".

Roland Landers, chief executive officer of All India Gaming Federation, said, "The ordinance will result in a ban on most online games of skill, including rummy and poker. What this ordinance does in effect is to treat games of skill as gambling and games of chance. This is disappointing as it disregards six decades of established legal jurisprudence and also the recent judgment of the Madras High Court, which struck down a similar law." He said the federation had made the State government aware of how offshore gambling websites and apps were proliferating while "constitutionally protected" India apps were getting banned.

"The State government has already appealed against the judgment of the Madras High Court, and the Supreme court recently issued notices on the same. Instead of waiting for the SC judgment and, in the meantime, respecting the order of the Madras High Court, the government seems to have taken a decision that will eventually only benefit online gambling operators," he said.

In the past few years, many judgments were passed by courts in favour of these games, which were considered skill-based ones. The legal jurisprudence emanating from the Supreme Court for over the past 60 years is very clear -- that games of skill are not gambling, and offering of games of skill is a legitimate activity protected under the Indian Constitution. This has been reiterated multiple times by various high courts, he claimed.

Sameer Barade, chief executive officer of the E-gaming Federation (EGF) says rummy, being a game of skill, has been settled by the Supreme Court and has been held to be a protected trade under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

"Including rummy as a game of chance is a direct violation of the Supreme Court judgments and also the recent judgment of the Madras High Court, which overturned the law banning online games including rummy. In its detailed judgment, the high court reaffirmed the preponderance test for distinguishing between games of skill and games of chance, especially in the context of rummy, reinforcing that both rummy and poker are games of skill ... We are examining the ordinance and shall be taking appropriate action in due course of time."

Landers said the court clarified that any restriction on games of skill, whether online or offline, whether for stakes or not, needed to be narrow and the State should try and regulate them, instead of banning them.

"The court also came down heavily on the State government for passing the law as a populist measure in the lead up to the Assembly elections, without following the established law ... The ban can have an adverse effect on the State and will push more and more people towards illegal offshore websites," said Landers.

India is the fifth largest online gaming market globally and skill-based gaming, a sunrise sector, is giving birth to an increasing number of unicorns within the country. The sector has been a strong financial contributor to the Indian economy even during an unprecedented period of slowdown and is further expected to generate revenue in excess of USD 5 billion by 2025.

Any form of the ban will impact the overall business of a sector as will the overall online skill gaming ecosystem due to the recent TN ordinance, says the All India Gaming Federation.