Gujarat High Court Dismisses PIL Against Mobile Games Alleged To Be Games Of Chance, In View Of Similar Pending Plea In Bombay HC

Observing that an identical PIL is pending before the Bombay High Court raising the same issue, the Gujarat High Court on Friday (January 3) dismissed a plea seeking a restrain on the operation on certain mobile game platforms on the ground that the games in question constitute games of chance and not games of skill.In doing so the court granted the petitioner–Sumit Kapurbhai Prajapati, liberty to approach the Bombay High Court in an intervention plea in the pending matter and raise the issue there.After hearing the matter for some time, a division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi while dictating the order said, “Having gone through the matter, pertinent is to be noted that a Public Interest Litigation No. 10 of 2024 impleading the same respondents as that of respondent No. 3 and 4 herein has already been filed before the High Court of Bombay, raising the same issue as being raised in the present petition with respect to the mobile games created by respondent 3 and 4 being games of chance and not the games of skill. The prayer made in the Writ petition is to restrain the respondent no. 3 to 4 from continuing with the impugned betting platform. The High Court of Bombay has issued notice on 28.03.2024 in the aforesaid Public Interest Litigation raising the issue as has been raised here. In our considered opinion, when one High Court is dealing with the issue which concerns pan India, it would not be proper to entertain the present PIL filed for the same cause of action.The present PIL is thus dismissed giving liberty to the petitioner to approach Bombay High Court by filing an intervenor application to raise the issues which are being additionally raised here.”During the hearing the counsel for the petitioner relied on the recommended amendment in The Gujarat Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887 by the Chairman of Gujarat State Law Commission (Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, Justice M.B. Shah) stating that the introduces strict punishments and blocking the websites (for betting). To this submission, the bench orally said, “That is only proposed amendment. You cannot rely on a proposed amendment. It is not a law as on date, it is only a recommendation.” The bench additionally asked the Counsel for the petitioner to approach the Bombay High Court and questioned the reason for filing different petition in different High Courts for the same cause of action and same issue and getting different Orders.The Counsel answering the query of the Court submitted “Because the prayer over there is for the State of Bombay or India which might be decided at the end of the petition.”The court then orally asked the counsel to withdraw it and wait after Bombay High Court decides. It further orally asked the Counsel for the Union of India whether there is an order by the Apex Court stating “this is a game of skill” regarding the PIL (Punjab & Haryana High Court) and if there is a review pending before the Bombay High Court.The Government Pleader (GP) appearing for the state at this stage said,“review is pending which is possibly why this matter is not proceeded with. Here also, the entire argument revolves around whether this is a game of chance or skill...The petitioner doesn't implead the intermediaries that hosts these platforms but impleads as private respondents 3 and 4 to private parties that runs their platforms". The counsel then read the document pertaining to terms and conditions for the usage of the games of one of the two private respondents. The terms as per the petition states:“The mobile games hosted on the platform are all games of skill...each game will reward certain skills such as knowledge of the game, familiarity experience, reflexes experience, hand-eye coordination etc. Certain game may have pre-determined outcomes such as Sudoku, Crosswords, Brick-brakers which are available by the users using their skill to play the game. Users must note, all mobile games available on the platforms are games where the success and/or performance of the users depends predominantly upon superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness games of skill on playing the game. Games of skill under Indian Law are excluded from the ambit of Gambling legislations such as the Public Gambling Act of 1867 and other State enactments except in the restricted States. MPL doesn't support, endorse or offer any users games of chance for money. Each mobile game and contest available on the platform are clearly defined (by) rules and code of conduct. All users are encouraged to read, understand and follow these rules to be successful in the games. MPL shall not be liable if users do not adhere to the game rules or otherwise engage in gambling or betting activities on the platform.” The GP then stated that the counsel for the petitioner is relying on the terms and condition of one agency, to contend that they are offering 'Games of Chance' whereas the terms of use reflect that that they are not ...

Gujarat High Court Dismisses PIL Against Mobile Games Alleged To Be Games Of Chance, In View Of Similar Pending Plea In Bombay HC

Lovina B Thakkar

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