In a recent ruling, the Allahabad High Court has clarified that Poker and Rummy are games of skill, not gambling.
A petition challenging an order dated January 24, 2024, from the D.C.P. City Commissionerate in Agra. The petitioner, DM Gaming Private Ltd sought permission to operate a gaming unit featuring Poker and Rummy but faced denial based on concerns of potential gambling and disruption of public peace.
The petitioner argued that the denial was unjustified. It cited the judgments from the Supreme Court in State of Andhra Pradesh Vs. K.S. Sathyanarayana and the Madras High Court in Junglee Games India Private Limited Vs. State of Tamil Nadu, which established that Poker and Rummy are predominantly skill-based games, not gambling.
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Justices Shekhar B. Saraf and Manjive Shukla noted that “In light of the fact that gambling is prohibited, the permission was denied without going into the aspect that card games i.e. Poker and Rummy are absolutely a game of skill and not gambling.”
The High Court noted that the order challenged failed to address the judgements of Supreme Court and various High courts and instead the department relied on speculative concerns about potential disturbances to come in the future.
The Court stated that such speculative grounds are insufficient for denying permission. It stressed that decisions should be based on concrete facts and legal precedents rather than mere conjecture.
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The High Court directed the relevant authorities to reconsider the application, taking into account the established legal definitions of these games as skill-based. The authorities were instructed to issue a reasoned decision after providing the petitioner an opportunity to be heard, within six weeks from the date of the order.
This court reaffirmed that while gambling is prohibited, recreational gaming activities like Poker and Rummy, when conducted in accordance with legal standards, should not be unjustly restricted.
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