In the first time India has ruled on the legality of fantasy sports, the Punjab and Haryana high court held the counsel after a resident of Chandigarh, the capital of the northern region of India, told the court that he was a victim of gambling, which is considered illegal in India.
Rawal and his peers heard that Varun Gumber lost roughly Rs 50,000 (US$ 784) on fantasycricket.dream11.com when he chose fantasy teams for both an Ireland cricket test and a Manchester City football game.
Gumber told the court that he had been misled into playing a game of chance, which is prohibited under the Public Gambling Act, 1867, but the court deemed that the fantasy sports game required considerable skill, judgement and discretion.
The court’s statement read: "Petitioner himself created a virtual team of a cricket match between two countries by choosing players, who were to play for two countries collectively and after forming a virtual team as per his own selection, knowledge and judgment, which is thoughtful will, he joined various leagues.”
Fantasycricket.dream11.com further denied Gumber’s allegations stating they are being assessed by the income tax department and registered with the ministry of commerce.
This ruling is particularly important for DFS providers as many of them are looking to spread their operations into the Asian market but are halted by the lack of established legislation on the subject.
Source: GMB / Betting-business.co
