During the British rule over India, a law by the name of the Public Gambling Act was passed in 1867, which made any type of gambling illegal in the entire country. After independence, while this law still continues to be a federal law, states are free to form their own laws regarding betting, gambling, and other real money games. Is online rummy legal in Telangana? There are many platforms on the internet that offer real money games in India, but each state has different laws regarding them.
Is online rummy legal in Telangana?
Playing online rummy for fun is legal in Telangana. However, playing the same for earning money is considered to be illegal.
The original Telangana Gambling Act was passed in 1974 and had no mention of online games as the internet was not prevalent at that time. With the wider availability of the internet, many online gaming platforms, offering real money games including online rummy have sprung up.
In 2015, a Supreme Court judgment stated that playing online rummy for real money is not gambling, as rummy is a `game of skill´, while the gambling laws can be only applied to `games of chance´. This made it legal for residents across India to play online rummy for real money.
This has lead to instances of addiction and distressful financial losses, which in some cases have even lead to suicides committed by individuals.
This has lead states like Telangana to clamp down on such platforms by the executive powers bestowed upon them by the Constitution.
In 2017, the State Assembly of Telangana passed an Amendment to the existing Telangana Gambling Act of 1974, to specifically include online games, and made it illegal to play them anywhere, including the `cyber space´.
Is online rummy legal in Telangana? Therefore, online rummy platforms like RummyCircle, Adda52, and A23 offer only free games within the state and no real money contests.
