New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday described online gambling and betting platforms as an “important issue” while hearing a plea seeking a nationwide ban on such platforms that allegedly operate under the guise of social and e-sports games.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan asked the petitioners’ counsel, advocate Virag Gupta, to serve a copy of the plea to the Centre’s lawyer. “It is an important issue. You serve one copy to him. Let him look into it. He will come back to us,” the Bench said, directing the government’s counsel to assist the court during the next hearing.
The petition, filed by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) and Shourya Tiwari, urges the Supreme Court to direct the Union Government to clamp down on betting and gambling applications that are allegedly causing widespread social and economic harm.
Gupta argued that the case concerned the protection of around 15 crore children affected by the “vacuum” in existing laws. Referring to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, he pointed out that while betting and gambling fall under the State List of the Constitution, the Centre acts as the “gatekeeper” with authority to issue blocking orders. He noted that, according to a parliamentary reply, about 1,528 gaming apps have already been blocked.
The Bench indicated it would consider appropriate directions once the Centre reviews the petition. The plea also calls upon four Union ministries — Electronics and Information Technology, Information and Broadcasting, Finance, and Youth Affairs and Sports — along with Apple India and Google India Pvt Ltd, to take coordinated action against online gambling disguised as gaming.
Citing official data, the petition stated that over 65 crore Indians engage in online gaming activities, generating an annual business exceeding ₹1.8 lakh crore. It further sought blocking orders under Section 69A of the IT Act against unlawful betting and gambling platforms, and directions to the RBI, NPCI, and UPI platforms to restrict transactions involving unregistered online money games.
The petitioners also requested safeguards for protecting the data of minors collected by online gaming companies.
