India’s Supreme Court prepares to deliver a final verdict on the controversial 2025 online gaming ban, after months of legal battles involving gaming companies, government authorities, and public interest groups.
India’s Supreme Court has moved the country’s sweeping online gaming ban closer to a final constitutional test, setting down the challenge to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 for final arguments after months of delay. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, told the parties on Wednesday to complete their pleadings before the case is heard in full.
The law, passed by Parliament on 21 August 2025 and given presidential assent the next day, is designed to bar all online real-money gaming across India, whether the games depend on skill or chance. According to the Act, the prohibition also covers facilitation and advertising linked to such games, with violations treated as cognisable and non-bailable offences carrying fines of up to INR10 million, or about $120,000.
The Supreme Court is now dealing not only with petitions from gaming companies but also with a public interest case filed by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change, which wants the government to crack down on betting and gambling platforms it says are being disguised as social or e-sports products. Advocate Virag Gupta told the court that a separate bench had already asked the government to respond and that a list of 2,000 apps allegedly running betting operations had been submitted to both the court and officials.
The industry’s challenge is led by evangelist K.A. Paul, who wants a uniform national framework for online and offline betting and gambling. Petitioners have argued that the ban would effectively wipe out the sector and violate the constitutional right to carry on trade. The court had earlier issued notices to the Union government, Google India, Apple India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and major gaming firms including Dream11, Mobile Premier League and A23 Games. In September 2025, the Centre secured the transfer of related cases from the high courts in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi to the Supreme Court, clearing the way for one final hearing on the law’s validity.
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