Legality of Fantasy Games in India
Fantasy games are the games which are available online where players can play online using the internet with one another, they can assemble imaginary teams of real players of different professional sports like Fantasy Cricket, IPL Fantasy League etc. They play against each other to win prizes and it is based on the statistical performances of those players. How the real player performs in reality and according to their performances the participant to the fantasy game earns a point and wins prizes.
Online fantasy games are a multi-billion dollar industry.
Fantasy games are legal in India because there is no law related to them and it’s not gambling and here the player need the skill to win as these games are skill based games.
Hon’ble Supreme Court said that those games that involve skill do not fall under the category of gambling in India. The Supreme Court of India, in K.R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu, has explained skill in terms of superior knowledge, training, attention, experience, and adroitness. States like Sikkim and Nagaland have passed a law related to online gaming to regulate the activities of such games.
Recently, a case of Blue Whale online game is making news as it is a very dangerous game as it involves violence and at the end suicide, in this game players are asked to do task for 50 days and make a cut on hand to make a design of whale and on the 50th day players are asked to commit suicide which is wrong, a 14 year boy from Mumbai has committed suicide because of this game. This is a Russian game and most suicide cases are from Russia only, the developer is sentenced to 3 years in jail in Russia. It is banned now.
In India, fantasy games are legal as there is no specific law ‘for’ or ‘against’ this type of games. Basically, in India, people play fantasy cricket game only and it is a game of skill as the player has to form its own virtual team of real players and his earning depends upon the performances of the players of his team in the real sport of cricket match. He has to select batsman, bowlers, wicketkeeper, and all rounder to form a perfect team to earn more points and get more prizes out of the game.
According to our Indian Law on Gambling,
fantasy sports is a ‘Game of Skill’, where skill plays the dominant role and the result depends primarily upon the relative knowledge, training, attention, experience of the participants. Generally, these types of games are not believed to constitute ‘gambling’ and do not break any law prohibiting gambling. For a game to be considered a ‘game of skill’ under Indian law, the element of skill must pre-dominate the element of chance in affecting the results of the game. Thus, the extent to which skill is involved in the game is the key factor in the determination of the nature and legality of the game under Indian law.
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