SC Bench to Rule on Fate of ₹32,000-Cr Gaming Empire;Blanket ban on real-money play faces constitutional test

Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan will hear operators Dream11, A23 Rummy and Boom11 plead that the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, stomps on their right to trade and ignores decades of rulings that branded rummy, poker and fantasy sports “games of skill.”

Senior advocates C. Aryaman Sundaram and Arvind P. Datar, who begged for an urgent slot last week, warned the court that 2.5 lakh jobs have already evaporated and another million hang by a thread. “Businesses built on judicial precedent have been declared criminal overnight,” Sundaram told the bench on October 30. Justice Pardiwala simply nodded: “Then we will hear it.”

The law, rammed through Parliament in 48 hours and signed on August 22, makes no distinction between roulette and rummy. Offer a cash contest three years in jail, ₹1 crore fine. Advertise one—two years, ₹50 lakh. Banks must freeze the pipes.

Within hours of Rajya Sabha clearance, Dream11 yanked paid leagues, Gameskraft killed RummyCulture, PokerBaazi went dark. MPL’s app flashed a single line: “Cash games no longer available.” Users could still withdraw, but the tap was dry.

Head Digital Works, the Hyderabad firm behind A23, calls the ban “economic euthanasia.” Its Karnataka petition, now parked in Delhi, claims 86% of the sector’s ₹32,000 crore revenue vanished on August 22. Projections of ₹80,000 crore by 2029 are now landfill.

The Centre counters that 450 million Indians 15 crore of them children were bleeding savings to offshore sharks. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw brandished suicide notes and money-laundering dossiers during the monsoon session. “This is public health, not commerce,” his ministry told the Delhi High Court in July.

Yesterday the same bench tacked on a fresh PIL from NGO CASC demanding the Act’s e-sports window be slammed shut. Advocate Virag Gupta handed over dossiers on 2,000 apps still peddling bets behind PUBG skins. “The law gave gamblers a new mask,” he argued.