Greeva Garg –
Published on August 05, 2021, at 05:59 PM
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) that sought for ban of online Fantasy Sports Game ‘Dream 11’.
The Supreme Court upheld the Judgment of the Rajasthan High Court where the legality of the online fantasy sports format as offered by Dream11 as a ‘Game of Skill’ was sustained.
The division bench comprising of Justice RF Nariman and Justice BR Gavai stated that, “The Supreme Court while dismissing the SLP against Rajasthan High Court Order, has emphasized that, with the dismissal of SLPs against orders of Punjab & Haryana and Bombay High Court, the issue of gambling is already decided by it. Simply put, the Fantasy Sports formats which are in line with the analysis of the Punjab & Haryana High Court are games of skill and are legal formats no more open to scrutiny.”
Dream 11 is an online Fantasy Sports Game in which one can create a fantasy sports team based on a real-life match and can participate in contests and win cash prizes.
Chandresh Sankla, who approached the Rajasthan High Court alleged that the public is being cheated in the name of Dream 11.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Bombay High Court held that, “The element of skill and a predominant influence on the outcome of the Dream11 fantasy than any other incidents are and therefore it is a game of mere skills and not falling within the activity of gambling.”
Before the Apex Court, a Judgment of the New York Supreme Court was referred to contend that the fantasy sports like Dream 11 are pure gambling and not game of skill.
Before the New York Supreme Court, the challenge was against a law that declared that interactive fantasy sports contests do not constitute gambling.
While holding that the said law is unconstitutional on the ground that it violates the prohibition against gambling in New York Constitution, the court noted that, “Although participants in Internet fantasy sports (IFS) contests may use their skill in selecting teams, they cannot control how the athletes on their IFS teams will perform in the real-world sporting events.”
“We reiterate our commitment to driving sports engagement through fantasy sports, which brings sports fans closer to the sports they love and helps build a larger sports ecosystem in India,” said Harsh Jain, cofounder and CEO of Dream11.
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Also read: Rajasthan High Court dismisses Plea against Online Fantasy Games