Courts can't halt online gaming act after President's approval: Centre to Karnataka HC

The court was hearing a petition filed by Head Digital Works, the parent company of online platform A23, which runs rummy and poker games.

The Centre on Saturday told the Karnataka High Court that the judiciary has no authority to block the enforcement of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, after it has secured Presidential assent.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Head Digital Works, the parent company of online platform A23, which runs rummy and poker games. The company has challenged the new law, calling it an arbitrary blanket ban on all real-money online games.

Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, argued that the law had completed the constitutional process of being passed by Parliament and signed by the President, and therefore its notification was a “constitutional function" that could not be restrained by courts.

Senior counsels Aryama Sundaram and Dhyan Chinappa, who appeared for the petitioner company, urged the court on Saturday to consider their prayer for granting an interim stay on the operation of the Act. Sundaram also asked the court to direct the union government not to notify the Act until it was examined by the high court.

The Karnataka High Court has adjourned to September 8 the hearing on the petition challenging the Constitutional validity of the newly enacted Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, 2025, which has banned all online Real Money Games (RMGs), be it games of skill, chance, or both.

The court declined to grant a stay on the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which is yet to be notified, setting the stage for further legal engagement.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, was tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 20, cleared by both Houses of Parliament the following day, and received Presidential assent on August 23, as per the Rashtrapati Bhavan website.