The Supreme Court of India has recently directed the High Court of Andhra Pradesh to re-examine the eligibility of Online Rummy as a game of skill or game of chance after the report of the committee mandated by the High Court was submitted.

In the absence of any information about Online Rummy, the Andhra Pradesh Government has filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging a High Court order ordering it to set up a committee to present a report on the game.

The case has been heard by a bench of Chief Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice KV Viswanathan. The bench has asked the High Court to look into the impact of the recently announced Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules 2023 on online gaming.

“We think it appropriate that since the order impugned is interim in nature, asking the report from the Government, therefore, on producing the said report, the High Court would look into all the issues afresh, uninfluenced by the findings recorded in the order, taking note of the amended rules, viz. Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023,” the order stated.

The Court further ruled that, if the writ petition submitted by the respondent gaming companies to the High Court was granted, the order issued by the High Court “shall not be given effect to for three weeks.”

Earlier this year, the High Court Division Bench issued an interim order on several petitions challenging the amendments to the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act, 1974.

It was argued by different gaming platforms that even though Online Rummy was a game of skill and wasn’t subject to the Act, it was still subject to penalties because of the changes made to Section 15 of the 1974 Act.

The High Court held that although there was sufficient evidence in the form of decisions to establish that physical Rummy is a ‘game of skill’, there was no evidence to establish whether Online Rummy is a “game of skill” or a “game of chance”.

The High Court further stated that, in the absence of knowledge of how it is operated and how the operator operates, it may be inappropriate to conclude on matters of fact that are subject to dispute.

As a result, it mandated the establishment of a committee composed of members from the judiciary, the technical and the non-technical members, as well as a police officer and a representative of the government, to investigate these matters.

The committee was tasked to examine and present a report on how Online Rummy is played.

Kapil Sibal was the senior advocate for the government of Andhra Pradesh, along with Advocates Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, Polanki Gowtham, KV Girish Chowdary, Niti Richhariya, Rajeswari Mukherjee and Meeran Maqbool.Responded gaming companies were represented by Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya and Advocates Durga Bose Gandham, Sanjanthi Sajan Poovayya, Himanshu Vij and Akhil Anand.

Credit: Bar and Bench