India's Supreme Court has scheduled a final hearing for 5 May in a consolidated review of the legal and tax status of online gaming in the country, according to ThePrint1. The court has stayed all ongoing GST proceedings against 49 online gaming companies and merged related petitions from different high courts into a single case1.
The dispute centers on the government's 2023 decision to raise the goods and services tax on online gaming companies from 18 percent to 28 percent, applied to the total entry amount, including prize pools, rather than just the platform's earnings1. The change triggered widespread concern in the industry, with cumulative tax demands reaching approximately ₹2.5 lakh-crore1.
The underlying legal position remains unsettled. The British-era Public Gambling Act, 1867, still the central gambling law, prohibits operating or managing public gambling houses but makes no mention of online gaming or gambling1. Section 12 of the Act excludes games of mere skill, stating:
"Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Act contained shall be held to apply to any game of mere skill wherever played"
Because betting and gambling is a state subject under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, each state sets its own rules1. ThePrint reports that five states have legalized gambling with regulations for games of skill, nine have declared it illegal, and 14 have no defined laws on it1.
| Position | States named |
|---|---|
| Legalised or regulated | Goa, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, West Bengal1 |
| Banned | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Gujarat, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra1 |
| No defined law | 14 states, not individually named1 |
Goa allows licensed physical and limited online casino operations under the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976, while Meghalaya regulates both offline and online gambling under the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 20211. Sikkim regulated online gaming under the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008, and Nagaland permits only games of skill such as poker and rummy under its 2016 law1. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have amended their gaming acts to criminalize online gambling, and Assam, Gujarat, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have general bans that extend online1.
Courts have repeatedly treated skill-based formats as outside gambling. The Supreme Court ruled in 1968 that rummy is a game of skill, and in the 2017 Shri Varun Gumber case the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that Dream11's fantasy format did not attract criminal prosecution under the 1867 Act1. A later Bombay High Court petition alleging GST evasion by Dream11 was rejected, with the court finding no evasion1. ThePrint reports that nine judges across the Supreme Court and high courts have separately assessed Dream11's fantasy format and consistently held it a game of skill protected under Article 19(1)(g)1.
What it means for players
The 5 May hearing concerns the tax treatment of operators, not a direct ruling on whether individuals may play. Until the court decides, the 28 percent rate applied to total entry amounts stands, and the outcome could affect how much operators charge, what contests remain available, and whether some platforms scale back Indian operations. Players in the nine states that ban gambling, including online, face penalties under state law, while those in the five regulating states operate under licensing frameworks. In the 14 states with no defined law, the position remains unclear. See our guide to whether you can gamble in India and whether online casinos are accessible in India for the current state-by-state picture.
What happens next
The Supreme Court's final hearing is scheduled for 5 May1. The court has already stayed GST proceedings against 49 companies pending the outcome1. No further dates beyond the hearing have been reported. For background on how India's rules compare with the rest of the region, see gambling laws in Asia and recent and pending gambling law changes in Asia.
