SKILL, CHANCE, and SOCIAL HARM: THE LEGISLATIVE TURN IN INDIA’S GAMING LAW

This article examines India’s new legislation that imposes a comprehensive ban on online money games, regardless of whether they are games of skill, chance, or mixed formats. The law marks a decisive departure from the century-old jurisprudential framework established under the Public Gambling Act 1867 and reinforced by landmark cases such as R.M.D. Chamarbaugwalla v. Union of India, which entrenched the skill-chance divide. By foregrounding the socioeconomic harms of online money gaming-ranging from addiction and financial distress to youth vulnerability, the Indian Parliament has reframed the regulatory discourse away from technical classifications toward public welfare. Drawing on comprehensive financial analysis of major gaming platforms, documented suicide statistics, and behavioral studies, this article demonstrates that these companies’ business models are structurally predicated on user exploitation through aggressive promotional spending and addictive design features. The article situates this legislative shift against a backdrop of fragmented judicial interventions and state-level prohibitions, where prior blanket bans were struck down as unconstitutional. The article argues that the ban is both constitutionally defensible and normatively justified, supported by empirical evidence showing that online money gaming causes measurable harm across financial, mental health, and social dimensions that cannot be mitigated through the traditional skill-chance distinction.