India’s Supreme Court has begun hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a nationwide prohibition on online gambling platforms that allegedly operate under the guise of social and eSports games, raising fresh questions about regulatory gaps despite a recently enacted federal online gaming law.
The petition, filed on October 13th by the Center for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), argues that although India passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 on August 21st, 2025—with presidential assent on August 22nd—the law does not adequately address gambling products disguised as social or entertainment games.
The law, which takes effect on October 1st, 2025, bans all online “money games” that involve staking real currency, but the petition claims it leaves a “legal gap” by allowing social gaming apps with gambling-like mechanics to operate unchecked.
During the initial hearing, a two-judge bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Vishwanathan directed the federal government to respond, stating: “Look into it thoroughly and come back to us.” The court instructed government counsel Chandrashekar Venkataraman to review the petition.
The petitioner argued that while the central government has positioned itself as a “gatekeeper” by blocking more than 1,500 online gaming apps under the Information Technology (IT) intermediary rules, there remains no explicit legal ban on online gambling disguised as social games—activities traditionally regulated by individual state governments under India’s Constitution.
The plea lists six respondents: the Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology, Information and Broadcasting, Finance, and Youth Affairs and Sports, as well as Apple India and Google India, due to the availability of real-money gaming apps on their platforms. The CASC contends that more than 650 million people in India are exposed to such games, which it calls a “national crisis” linked to financial distress, addiction, and youth suicides.
The petition also calls for stricter enforcement against offshore betting platforms, action against celebrity gaming endorsements, and tighter financial controls by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and UPI operators to block payments to unregistered gaming websites.
The Supreme Court’s intervention could shape the future of India’s fast-growing digital gaming sector by determining whether social gaming content with gambling features must also fall under real-money gaming prohibitions.
Further hearings are expected in the coming weeks.
