Are Fantasy Apps LEGAL and SAFE? How ONLINE BETTING operates? Game of Skill/Chance | Rummy | Dream11

The 16th edition of the IPL has just come to an end with CSK lifting the trophy for the 5th time. During these matchess, you might have noticed advertisements of fantasy sports apps like Dream11, My11Circle, MPL which claims that you can win crores of rupees by – making a team. These platforms have become so famous and profitable that My11Circle signed Lucknow franchise as the official title sponsor of the team. In 2020, Dream 11 was the title sponsor of IPL season. Many cricket players and even

former BCCI President – Sourav Ganguly were seen promoting these apps. In fact they have become so big - that a study by Custom Market Insights suggest these fantasy sporting economy in India is valued well over 25B dollars as of today. In addition to these you must have seen the ads of betting websites like 1xBet, fairplay, dafabet. All these apps claim that you can earn real money while making predictions in the match. However, one question which arises is that - if betting and gambling is il

legal in India, then how are these apps being promoted on such large scale, and that too- during the most widely popular sporting event in India which is viwed by millions of people. In todays video we are going to discuss about this very issue. We will see what are the laws governing betting and gambling in India. How apps like Dream 11, 1xBet are operating in India and most importantly, on whether they are legal or not --- --- The practice of gambling is very old in India. I am sure all of you

remember the scene from Mahabharta where the Pandavas lost their entire kingdom, wealth and even their wife against the Kauravas in a game of dice. Various kings also regulated betting within their empires and during the Mughal rule, betting places called as Satta Bazaars were set up. The word satta bazzar which are refer to stock markets comes from this time only. When Britishers came to India, cricket became popular and with that betting on cricket matches also increased. But since betting al

lows an individual to earn quick money, it causes a major problem of addiction. To curb this practice, Britishers passed the Public Gambling Act, 1867 which banned the satta bazaars and imposed penalties on public gambling. After independence, the Constitution under Article 19(1)(g) provided right to every citizen to carry a business or occupation of their own. However, there are certain activities such as gambling and prostitution which by their very nature are so abhorrent and unethical that t

hey must be prohibited.. Thus these practices are not given a recognition by the Constitution and hence any type of restriction can be imposed on them under the principle of (Res Extra Commercium) With respect to fantasy sporting apps – states like Odisha, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. – have argued that such fantasy sports are also a form of gambling where a person makes prediction to win money and hence should be banned. To understand this better – let us first see, on how the courts have def

ined gambling and for that , let me take you back in the past. An interesting case – State Of Bombay vs R. M. D. Chamarbaugwala came in front of the Supreme Court in the year 1957. The Govt has passed a law which regulated and banned some prize competitions such as cross words, picture puzzles in newspaper – where you can win some money after giving correct answer. The respondent had challenged this law was overbroad by arguing that all such competitions cannot be termed as gambling. It is here

that the court gave the important test of ‘game of chance’ and ‘game of skill’ to determine on what will be gambling or not. The court held that Game of chance is one where winning is totally dependant on luck. In such circumstances usually only two outcomes are possible which is winning or losing and the probability of both of them were equal. Such games will come under the definition of gambling and will be illegal. However, in some other games – known as Game of Skill – factors such as physic

al and metal skill, knowledge about the game, experience play an important role in the outcome apart from sheer luck. Such games cannot be called as gambling. To take an example, the Supreme court in the case of K R Lakshmana v State of Tamil Nadu held that betting on horse racing is not illegal. Because - the persons putting money on horse racing should have understanding of the special ability of the horse, jockey acquired by training, track condition and other variables. Therefore the game is

predominantly based on skill. Similarly, In State of Andhra Pradesh v. K. Satyanarayana, the Supreme Court held that Rummy is a game of skill, as the fall of the cards needs to be memorized, and the building up of Rummy requires considerable skill in holding and discarding cards. Now, coming back to our discussion on fantasy sports. On these apps, the user assemble a virtual team from the pool of real players who are playing the actual match. The virtual players can be any of the competing team

. The selection of the team is usually on the user’s knowledge and understanding of the particular sport, team strengths and weakness and how the players are actually performing in real life. After the team is formed, the user gets points on the basis of the performance of those players in actual games. And the user with the highest point wins a certain prize from the pool formed by the competing users. When some states tried to ban apps like dream 11 – stating that these apps are a form of bett

ing – the Courts held that fantasy sports involves substantial skills in forms of actual decision making and knowledge of the game. Moreover, unlike betting, winning or losing in fantasy sports was not dependent on any team winning or losing in the real world, which is the case with gambling – but on individual performance of the players. Now, before you think all the apps which you saw during the IPL advertisements are legal – here is another twist in the story. While apps like Dream 11 have be

en declared legal because they can be categorised as game of skill – the same may not be true for app like 1xBet, Dafabet. You see in these apps, a user only bets on the winning team. There is no active participation of the user in context of selection of players, involvement of mind in terms of how to allocate money between different players etc – and hence, the element of skill is negligible in such sports. To understand this better, a few years ago Swiggy and Zomato used to run promotional di

scount compaighn during IPL, where customers would bid on who would win the match and earn points. . According to Google, it was violative of Google play store policy – which discourages activites linked directly or indirectly to gambling. Thus, this was struck down and both Zomato and Swiggy had to stop this promotional campaign. Line 2: However, then how these platforms which are nothing short of traditional betting activities on an online platform operating in India? All these platforms are n

ot actually located in India and operate through offshore entities. Offshore entities are company that is based in a different country to the one in which it does most of its business. Why is this done? Usually to bypass the law Line 3: Gambling companies such as Bet365 hold a license under UK laws. Dafabet, is based Philippines. 1XBet in Russia. Line 4: But then, I’m sure the next question which comes to your mind is that why can’t government just ban these? As we had discussed earlier, the pow

er to make laws on different subject matters is divided between State and Union. The union cannot make a law as betting and gambling’ finds a place in the State List under Entry 34 which empowers only the state governments to govern gambling and betting. Thus, only if a state explicitly prohibits online betting in their State only then these websites can be held laiblefor carrying on illegal business and activties in India. Alongside, Winzo Rummy which allows betting with money, the official web

site states that “Playing online rummy for real money is completely legal in all Indian states except Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam, and Sikkim, owing to state government rulings in those states.” Therefore, it leaves open upto to the customers to ensure that they comply with the law. Some steps are already been taken in this regard. Recentlyy, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has announced new regulations to protect online gamers from harmful content a

nd addiction. Under this, Self Regulatory Organisations will determine whether an online game is permissible or not, based on whether it involves wagering or betting. Coming to the end of the video, we can note that there exists some form of vaccum in regulation of these online games. We need a policy at the national level which protects users from any kind of gambling (including ads), prevent addiction, mental harm, financial loss and financial fraud by warning users repeatedly and allowing the

m to exclude themselves upon user-defined limits being reached for time or money spent.