Rummy and poker are two of the most favourite games
played in India. As the economy progressed, technology added its own
charm and convenient to the games of rummy and poker. Concepts like
online rummy and online poker have emerged in India just like other
jurisdictions.
However, India is still following colonial laws
regarding gaming and gambling and they are clearly ill suited for the
contemporary times. It has become a common practice that Indian laws
are improved and modified by Supreme Court of India instead of our
Parliament.
Once again the legality of conducting rummy
competitions and plays with involvement of cash has reached
the Indian Supreme Court. Rummy and poker enthusiastics are happy
with this development as they see a ray of hope in this legal
development. They believe that this case may finally help in
legalising online rummy and online poker in India.
However, legal experts having extensive knowledge
about online gaming and gambling are skeptical about such hope and
interpretation. According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of
techno legal ICT law firm Perry4Law,
online rummy and online poker would still
be illegal in India despite Supreme Court’s favourable
decision unless those managing these games comply with various techno
legal requirements prescribed by Indian laws.
This seems to be logical as well as the Supreme
Court of India is presently not hearing about the legality of online
rummy or online poker. In fact, online poker is not even in question
as the Supreme Court is analysing the issue from the limited
perspective of use of cash for playing rummy in India.
Rummy is a game of skill and everybody is aware of
this fact in India. However, there is no judicial precedent in favour
of online poker as on date that can be applied at the national level
and even the Supreme Court is not going to touch the same.
It seems the best option for online rummy and online poker websites of India is to comply with techno legal laws of India rather than blindly relying upon the skills argument that has limited relevance for deciding the legality of online games like rummy and poker.
