Supreme Court to hear petitions challenging real-money gaming ban in January 2026

Supreme Court of India

A three-judge Supreme Court bench will hear petitions by real-money gaming (RMG) operators challenging the constitutional validity of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA), 2025, in January 2026.

On December 11, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, heard a plea by Head Digital Works, which operates the online rummy platform A23 Rummy, seeking urgent hearing on petitions challenging the government's online gaming law.

Senior advocates C. Aryama Sundaram and Arvind Datar, appearing for Head Digital Works and other petitioners, highlighted the urgency of the matter, noting that the businesses of these gaming operators had come to a standstill and job losses had occurred due to the new law.

They pointed out that the matter had gone off the board of the bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan, who had been hearing the matter along with earlier related appeals concerning state-level online gaming bans.

The counsel also noted that the Supreme Court has reserved its judgment in a clutch of cases on the validity of GST notices worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore issued to online RMG firms and casino companies as well as challenges to state legislations seeking to ban online games played for stakes.

Once that judgment is delivered, it will have a direct bearing on the current batch of petitions, they said.

"I will list this before three judges bench in January and bench composition etc will come into effect by then," the Chief Justice said.

Read: SC asks Centre to file comprehensive reply on pleas challenging online gaming law

Introduced in August 2025, PROGA prohibits online money games, where a user makes a deposit, directly or indirectly, with the expectation of earning winnings on that deposit.

Head Digital Works and the other petitioners have sought a temporary stay on the enforcement of the provisions of the online gaming law. They have also requested that key sections of the law related to the prohibition of online money games in the country be struck down, arguing that these provisions are beyond the legislative competence of the Centre.

The government, however, has defended the introduction of PROGA, stating that it is necessary to curb the rapid spread of unregulated online gaming apps that have links to terror financing and money laundering.

"Unchecked expansion of online money gaming has been linked to financial fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and in some cases, the financing of terrorism, thereby posing threats to national security, public order and integrity of the State," the Centre stated in a November affidavit.

About 45 crore people are negatively affected by online money games and they have faced a loss of more than Rs 20,000 crores every year, it added.

That said, the online gaming law is yet to come into effect in the country, and the government issued draft rules for the sector in October.

Several prominent RMG platforms in India, including A23, however had suspended contests and games involving money on their platforms in August after the law received the President's assent.