The Kerala High Court on Monday lifted the ban imposed by the state government on online rummy and observed that it is a game of skill. The high court quashed the notification issued by the Kerala government which had imposed a ban under the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960.
The bench of Justice TR Ravi held that the notification issued by the government was unconstitutional and in violation of the fundamental rights to trade and commerce under Article 19(1)(g) and the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
Multiple petitions were filed before the Kerala High Court by companies which were all engaged in the business of developing and offering online games of skill in India. The petitioners had argued that the notification issued by the state government was arbitrary in nature, with no legal backing.
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Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioner companies, argued before the high court that the contention that an online rummy game is addictive does not by itself make it a game of chance. He stated that by that logic, lotteries too could be addictive, but were promoted by the state itself.
The state on the other hand argued that online rummy is not pre-dominantly a game of skill and that there is an element of cheating involved, including manipulation of the cards being dealt.
WHAT DID THE HIGH COURT SAY?
The high court on the basis of the contentions raised by the parties identified the main issue for consideration–whether online rummy was a game of skill or a game of chance.
Justice Ravi in his order observed,“The Counsel have placed all their cards on the table. My effort is to arrange them in sets and to declare. If I arrange the cards skillfully and declare, then “rummy is a game of mere skill”. If I arrange the cards without any skill and still manage to declare, then “rummy is a game of chance”.”
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The bench relied on several precedents of high courts as well as the Supreme Court to conclude that rummy is a game of mere skill.
The court stated that “playing for stakes or not playing for stakes can never be the criterion to find out whether the game is a game of skill and not of chance”.
Therefore, for the same reasons that rummy was held to be a game of skill, online rummy was also a game of skill, the high court said.
The Kerala High Court, therefore, quashed the notification of the state government which had imposed a ban on online rummy in the state.
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