The Karnataka government recently prohibited all forms of online games involving monetary stakes. Interestingly, this state law comes at a time when the Madras High Court clarified that games of skill that can be played online for stakes, cannot be categorised as betting or gambling. Further, the Madras High Court struck down the overarching ban on games of skills pursuant to the recent amendments to the Tamil Nadu gaming laws and stated that such a ban was ultra vires the Constitution and was an ‘excessive and disproportionate’ exercise of authority.
Why has the recently notified Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Gaming Act) created such a stir in the online gaming industry and opposed by prominent industry bodies such as the All India Gaming Federation and Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports?
Read the full article by Probir Roy Chowdhury and Kavya Katherine Thayil published in The Economic Times, ET Telecom, and Business Journal.
Probir specializes in Corporate Commercial, Venture/Private Equity and Information Technology/FinTech. He has been involved in corporate transactions focused on the high technology industry including cross border Mergers & Acquisitions.