The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021, which tries to manage online gaming has been challenged in the Supreme Court. Justice Krishna S Dixit requested petitions to be published on October 27 in the wake of informing the state government and Bengaluru police commissioner. The All India Gaming Federation and others battled the bill, saying they were astonished by the state government’s restriction on online games that include skill being played for stakes. The Amendment Act is, they contend, arbitrary and vague.

They contended that games of skill don’t fall inside the extent of betting and wagering as proposed by the new legislation. The State Government can’t pass the Amending Act by a legislative process. The state government is directed to just manage football and poker games in Article 34 of the Indian Constitution, and the petitioners say that this clause doesn’t stretch out to guidelines on games of skill. According to them, the term place has been reached out to include virtual stages, mobile applications, and the internet, and the state needs to control those just as communication gadgets, software, online gaming, and computer resources.

Bettors and bettors currently remember any act of risking money for a game of skill by those playing the game or by an outsider, as indicated by the rule. The amendment, as the chief minister clarified on the floor of the assembly, permits chess playing yet condemns playing of chess revenue-driven, money, or in any case, as per petitioners. The assembly passed the Amending Act on September 21, 2021, and the committee on September 23, 2021. On October 4, 2021, the governor gave his assent, and it was declared and brought into power on October 5, 2021.

Credits: THE IMES BUREAU