Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, 3 Actors Issued Notices For Endorsing Fantasy League Games

After hearing a plea on the fall out of online gaming, the Madras high court has issued notices to Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. The Madurai Bench of the HC also issued notices to actors Prakash Raj, Rana Daggubati and Tammana Bhatia.

The petition filed by Mohammad Rizvi alleged that addiction to these games could cause ill effects on the health and slow down the brain growth of children.

While Virat Kohli promotes Mobile Premier League (MPL), Ganguly is the brand ambassador of My11Circle.  

“It is prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction in the nature of Writ, directing the Respondents to taking action against the 9th and 10th to 15th Respondent and online games groups and parties who are involving cyber crimes, scam, cyber bullying, violence, and xenophobia and ensure the safety, security, defense, sovereignty and integrity, culture of India…” Rizvi urged the Madras HC in his petition. 

Recently, Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asked IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to direct internet service providers (ISPs) to block 132 websites supposedly engaged in online real money gaming.

The Andhra CM mentioned in the letter that on September 25, 2020, his government had amended the Andhra Pradesh Gambling Act, 1974 to ban online gaming and gambling websites. 

The Supreme Court judgments since 1960 have observed that games such as poker and rummy have a dominant element of ‘skill’, which trumps the element of ‘chance’, hence ruling that both games are skill-based card games and as such, should be exempted from the anti-gambling regulations even when played for money. 

However, given that gambling is a state subject, different states have framed their laws, some of which have outrightly banned all real money card games. These include Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha, where there’s a blanket ban on card games played for stake. 

Indian Fantasy Sports Platforms See Revenue Jump 160% To INR 2,400 Cr In FY20

Indian online fantasy sports platforms have witnessed a surge in users in the last three to four years, highlights a whitepaper released by non-profit organisation IndiaTech, citing data from a report by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS). 

The segment’s user base has grown exponentially in the last three years, from 20 lakhs in 2016 to 9 Cr users in 2019, registering a 4,400% increase. Further, the number of uses for online fantasy sports is expected to reach 10 Cr by the end of this year. This has also led to a surge in revenue for the sector, from INR 920 Cr in 2018-19 (FY19) to INR 2,400 Cr in FY20, a 160% increase in revenue.