Kerala High Court lifts unconstitutional state ban on Online Rummy

After much tension and issues caused to the Indian gaming industry, the Kerala high Court has lifted the state government ban on Online Rummy. In the case of Gamescraft Technologies v State of Kerala and ors, the Court came to a conclusion that Online Rummy could be deemed as a game of skill and not a game of chance.

The petitioners were represented by Mukul Rohatgi, Joseph Markos, Santhosh Mathew and Thomas Kuruvilla. The arguments made were specifically regarding the outlook towards rummy in the state. Physical rummy could no be allowed while online rummy was banned and this was also causing a huge monetary loss to online apps specifically made for the game. The government had previously banned Rummy under a notification of Section 14A of the Kerala Gaming Act 1960.

They also claimed that Article 19 was violated as the ban prevented companies from exercising their right to free trade and commerce. The main issue was also about the role of stakes and the petitioners contended that the governments decision went against various High Court and Supreme Court rulings. They relied upon the judgments of State of AP v Satyanarayana and KR Lakshmanan v State of Tamil Nadu.