{"id":777033348,"date":"2025-10-20T08:50:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777033348"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:02:15","slug":"indias-supreme-court-to-weigh-call-for-clampdown-on-gambling-platforms-posing-as-esports-and-social-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indias-supreme-court-to-weigh-call-for-clampdown-on-gambling-platforms-posing-as-esports-and-social-games","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Supreme Court to weigh call for clampdown on gambling platforms posing as esports and social games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The court will examine a public interest litigation brought by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

India.- The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) that calls for nationwide enforcement against online gambling platforms that operate under the guise of esports and social games. Filed by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), the plea seeks directions to government ministries under the newly enacted Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition claims that despite the ban on real-money gambling in India, many operations continue under the label of esports or \u201cskill-based\u201d social gaming. \u201cAround half of the Indian population is involved in playing online games, which is adversely impacting society, economy, and national security,\u201d the PIL states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petitioners are urging the Supreme Court to order blocking measures under Section 69A of the IT Act to shut unlawful betting sites and mobile apps. It calls on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and UPI platforms to block transactions linked to unregistered gaming operators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CASC has requested investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and Interpol into offshore betting firms allegedly owing over INR2 lakh crore (about US$24bn) in unpaid taxes. Apple and Google ae named as respondents for allegedly hosting such platforms on their app stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIL also raises concerns over data privacy, particularly the collection of minors\u2019 personal information by gaming platforms. It calls for a harmonised interpretation of central and state laws to close regulatory loopholes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Indian ED seizes 40kg of gold in illegal online betting probe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The court will examine a public interest litigation brought by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777026918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a Public Interest Litigation seeking nationwide enforcement against online gambling platforms disguised as esports or social games. The petition calls for blocking unlawful sites, restricting financial transactions, and initiating investigations into offshore betting firms for alleged tax evasion, while also naming Apple and Google for hosting these platforms.","focusai_entities":"Supreme Court of India, Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Interpol, Apple, Google","focusai_location":"India","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.8), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.8), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on \"Skill Games\"","query":"How might the Supreme Court's interpretation of \"skill-based\" gaming versus gambling impact the operational legality and market segmentation for current online gaming platforms in India?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Scope","query":"What specific enforcement mechanisms and inter-agency coordination frameworks will be established by the Indian government to implement nationwide blocking of unregistered platforms and financial transactions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,439,158,16334],"tags":[24857,229,58],"class_list":["post-777033348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-ban","tag-gambling","tag-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777033348"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777033363,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033348\/revisions\/777033363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777026918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777033348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777033348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777033348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}