Kerala High Court quashes govt's move to ban online rummy

The Kerala high court has quashed a move of the Pinarayi Vijayan government to ban online rummy in the state, according to Gateway to Gaming, a website run by gaming lawyer Jay Sayta, who was present during the virtual court session.

The judgement pronounced by the single-judge bench of justice TR Ravi quashed the amendment to a notification issued by the government of Kerala under Section 14A of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960, which sought to ban online rummy in that state.

Four gaming companies, Junglee Games India, Play Games 24×7, Head Digital Works, and Gameskraft Technologies which run Ace2Three, Junglee Rummy, RummyCircle and RummyCulture had petitioned the court against the amendment.

They contended that online rummy had been declared as a game of skill, which is legal in India, by various courts including the Supreme Court.

The state on the other hand said that playing online rummy for money was leading to social problems, including suicides and loss of savings. It also cited a 2019 judgement of the Kerala high court in another case that held that rummy played for money would amount to gambling.

The gaming companies also highlighted that the notification, which empowers the state to decide which would be skill-based games and which would be chance-based, violated their right to trade and commerce guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

Also read: The PUBG ban and the gaming of the Indian market

Justice Ravi in his judgement noted that the notification was arbitrary and violative of the right to trade and commerce guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution and the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution, Livelaw reported.

Kerala High Court’s is the second order supporting the online gaming for money after the Madras High Court had on August 3 quashed a similar ban on online rummy by the Tamil Nadu government.

The Madras HC too had held that imposing a wide-ranging complete ban was violated Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, besides terming it “capricious, irrational, excessive, and disproportionate”.

However, Tamil Nadu law minister S Raghupathy had later said that the government would come up with a new law to ban online gambling in the state.

The Karnataka government too is planning to ban “any act of risking money, or otherwise, on the unknown result of an event, including on a game of skill”, through an amendment to the Karnataka Police Act.