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State of Tamil Nadu & Ors. v. Junglee Games India Private Limited & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 594Decided 27 May 2026
C.A. No.-006124-006131 - 2023
Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice R. Mahadevan

Background

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka amended their gaming/police laws to ban online betting and gambling, including on games like rummy and poker, citing rising addiction, financial ruin, and reported suicides linked to online money gaming. The Madras High Court struck down Tamil Nadu's 2021 amendment (holding "betting" cannot be separated from "gambling" under Entry 34, List II of the Constitution) and later struck down parts of Tamil Nadu's 2022/23 Online Gambling Act, reading down provisions to exclude rummy and poker as games of skill. A similar challenge succeeded before the Karnataka High Court. The States appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka matters together since they raised the same core constitutional question.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that both High Courts had wrongly read Entry 34 narrowly, and that "betting and gambling" together describe any activity of staking money on an uncertain outcome, whether the underlying game is one of skill or chance. It held that while a game of skill itself is protected under Article 19, betting or wagering money on a game of skill is not protected and remains squarely within the States' regulatory and prohibitory power, since betting/gambling activities are "res extra commercium" (outside ordinary commercial/fundamental rights protection). The Court further held the States could independently rely on "public order" (Entry 1, List II) to justify the bans, given documented evidence of addiction, financial devastation, and suicides linked to online money gaming: this constituted a real threat to public tranquility and health, not mere disapproval of the activity. It rejected arguments that the laws were manifestly arbitrary or disproportionate. The appeals of both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were allowed, the High Court judgments were set aside, and the state laws banning online betting/gambling (including on rummy and poker) were upheld as constitutional.

Lesson Learnt

State legislatures have the constitutional power to prohibit betting or gambling, including on online games of skill like rummy and poker, because staking money on an uncertain outcome does not enjoy fundamental-rights protection, and states may also invoke public order concerns (documented addiction, financial harm, and suicides) to justify such bans.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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