Skill gaming industry body All India Gaming Federation alongside real money gaming firms Mobile Premier League (MPL), Games24x7, A23(Ace2Three), and Gameskraft have moved toward the Karnataka High Court appealing against the state’s online gambling law that happened on October 5.

These organizations have filed writ petitions in the Karnataka High Court on Thursday challenging the constitutional validity of amendments made to the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act that was reportedly approved by governor Thawar Chand Gehlot recently. The law had prohibited all types of online gaming where the transfer of money is involved.

The amendment came against the setting of public interest litigation filed in the Karnataka High Court to prohibit online gambling. In any case, it eliminated the differentiation between the game of skill and the game of chance, in this way bringing skill-based gaming startups under its domain.

Moneycontrol was first to cover October 6 that few gaming platforms including MPL, Games24x7 (RummyCircle, My11Circle), Ace2Three, and RummyCulture among others had begun blocking access to residents in Karnataka after the state government notified the online gambling law with prompt impact on October 5. Fantasy sports major Dream11 anyway keeps on working in the state.

The petitions by All India Gaming Federation, Games24x7, A23(Ace2Three), and Gameskraft were recently revealed by G2G News yet the appeal by Mobile Premier League was previously unreported. All India Gaming Federation Roland Landers had said on October 7 that “the industry will challenge this (law) in court and look for legal response”.

Over the previous year, a few Indian states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have prohibited or attempted to boycott real-money games. Madras High Court had struck down the suspension request in August while Kerala High Court overturned the Kerala government’s order last month. The Supreme Court likewise maintained fantasy sports as a game of skill in July this year.

South India is a major market for games like Rummy which has a very decent concentration in the southern states, Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal had told Moneycontrol on October 7. He had likewise said greater clearness is relied upon to arise in the country’s real-money gaming market in the impending quarters.

“Over the most recent two months, there have been a greater number of upsides than negatives (in the sector). I’m seeing that state governments are losing fights in their respective high courts and judgments are becoming keener and more clear where there are highly contrasting as opposed to dim” Agarwal said, “Considering that the space is so huge and new, there will be steady difficulties however our view is that over the following four to eight quarters, things will begin turning out to be more clear and firm”.

India had around 80 million real-money gamers in 2020, which is relied upon to develop to 150 million by 2023, as per an EY-All India Gaming Federation report. The industry will be valued at $2 billion by 2023 as far as rake fees earned, the report said.

Credits: Moneycontrol