First Legal Challenge Against Online gaming bill 

The Karnataka High Court will hear on August 30 a petition filed by leading online gaming company A23, which has challenged the newly enacted law banning all forms of online money gaming in India. The plea was mentioned for urgent hearing on Wednesday by Senior Advocates C Aryama Sundaram and Dhyan Chinnappa.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which seeks to outlaw online money games regardless of whether they are based on skill or chance, has now become law following President Droupadi Murmu’s assent on August 22. The Bill had been passed in the Lok Sabha on August 20 and in the Rajya Sabha on August 21.

With this law, the long-standing judicial distinction between “games of skill” and “games of chance” has been discarded, with any game involving monetary stakes falling under the prohibition.

In a court filing at the Karnataka High Court, A23, which offers rummy and poker games, said the law "criminalises the legitimate business of playing online games of skill, which would result in the closure of various gaming companies overnight". The new law is a "product of state paternalism", A23 added in its filing, asking it to be declared unconstitutional when applied to games of skill such as rummy and poker.

A23.com describes itself as an online gaming platform with more than 70 million players. The filing, dated August 28, is not public but was reviewed by Reuters. India's IT ministry did not immediately respond to queries.

The government has repeatedly expressed its unhappiness over money-based games, saying they cause addiction. In announcing the law last week, it said it had a duty to act against "social evils".