At a time when fantasy sports platforms are most popular in towns with the 2020 season of Indian Premier League underway in the UAE, there is bad news for cricket fans in the home of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Andhra Pradesh government on 25th September 2020 has banned all online gaming activity that involves real money gaming.
Andhra Pradesh ha now joined Telangana in banning online gaming activities. These are activities where consumers spend a large amount of money without actually being able to control the outcome of the game.
The Andhra Pradesh-Telangana region has a high density of gamblers. And also people who love to wage monetary bets on card games like rummy, poker, and similar other activities. Fantasy cricket is also of a similar nature. Both rummy and fantasy sports have a preponderance of skill.
The Gaming Ordinance, 2020 under which Dream11 Fantasy Sports Platform is Banned
The Andhra Pradesh government passed an ordinance to amend the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act 1974 on 25th September 2020. The ordinance came into force with immediate effect.
Under the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Ordinance, 2020, the government of YS Jaganmohan Reddy banned
- Â collection or soliciting of bets
- Receipt or distribution of winning or prizes in money or otherwise in respect to any wager or bet
- Any act which is intended to aid, induce, solicit or facilitate wagering or betting or such collection, soliciting, receipt or distribution, and any act of risking money or playing stakes or otherwise on the result of a game or an event including on a game of skill.
This amendment to the law has come as bad news for IPL 2020 title sponsors, Dream11. Dream11 has paid BCCI 222 crores to buy the title rights of IPL 2020. The company is using several popular Indian cricketers like MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, and Rishabh Pant to advertise its fantasy application.
Since online gaming and real money gaming is a state subject, Dream11 has respected the law and restricted access to consumers. A message on its website says, “Sorry if your current residence and bank account is from Andhra, Assam, Odisha, Telangana, Nagaland, and Sikkim, you cannot participate in the cash contests on Dream11.”
Response to the ban of Fantasy Sports Platform in Andhra Pradesh
There has been mixed response on the Ordinance from people involved in the gaming industry.
According to Siddharth Iyer, a Delhi-based lawyer, the ordinance, which has criminalized any and all kinds of online betting and wagering, is a response to the growing socio-economic problems that are arising from online betting activities. The ordinance is a welcome change.
He also pointed out that banning these activities strictly may not be the best way to tackle the problem. But it is certainly better than letting them run in an unregulated manner. This is the case, in most of the larger states in India.
Dream11 also has two Special Leave Petitions pending in the Supreme Court. One of them is by the Maharashtra government on evasion of taxes of 2200 crores-plus. The other is a case as to why fantasy should not be categorized as gambling/betting.
