Skill Versus Chance In The Digital Age: A Study Of India’s Legal Framework For Online Gaming
- IJLLR Journal
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
Insha Khan, HNLU (LLM 2025-26)
ABSTRACT
The regulation of gaming and gambling in India finds its roots in ‘the Public Gambling Act of 1867’, a colonial statute that prohibited gambling with a few exceptions in British India. Later, a clear distinction was created between a ‘game of skill’ and a ‘game of chance’; the former was allowed, and the latter was prohibited. This skill vs chance dichotomy shaped the Indian gaming laws for over a century. The judiciary has also played an important role in developing the law on gaming, notably in the case of the ‘State of Bombay vs R.M.D.Chamarbaugwala’, the court reaffirmed the game involving skills and not mere chance. However, the application of the test has not always been a straight course since the boundaries between skill and chance often overlap in practice.
The advent of the internet and online gaming has made this divide even more complex. Multinational Corporations have their stakes in the online gaming industry, hosting games like poker, rummy, and other fantasy sports. While these games do fall under the category of games of skill, they come with other hazards of the online world. The major concerns are addiction, which affects the mental and physical health of youth, and financial exploitation.
In response, the Online Gaming Act 2025 seeks to create a unified framework. The Act represents a significant step towards harmonising, but its true test lies in balancing competing interests of society at large to curb unlawful gambling while at the same time balancing the interests of the operators under Articles 19 and 21of the Constitution of India, which guarantees freedom of trade, thereby fostering innovation.
This paper traces the historical development of gaming laws in India, analyses the skill vs chance dichotomy and its application in the online gaming sector, and lastly evaluates the intricacies of the new Act on online gaming.
Keywords: Online Gaming, Game of Skill, Game of Chance, Gambling, Fantasy Sports.
