Gujarat, Kerala skill gaming matters marred by adjournments

Crucial matters pertaining to the legality of the skill gaming industry: a review petition on whether rummy for stakes can be permitted pending before the Kerala High Court and the letters patent appeal on whether poker is a game of skill in the Gujarat High Court were adjourned without being heard in the past few weeks.

A fresh division bench of the court comprising of newly appointed Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice A.J. Shashtri was supposed to hear the appeal against a 2017 single judge bench order ruling poker to be a game of chance on 16th September.

The clutch of petitions filed by Indian Poker Association Secretary KN Suresh, Dominance Games Private Limited, Aman Chhabra and Hotel Ramada, Ahmedabad, however could not be heard on 16th September and are now scheduled to be heard on 4th October, 2019.

Meanwhile, the review petitions filed by filed by online rummy websites Ace2Three, RummyCircle and Junglee Rummy against a January 2019 order of the division bench of the Kerala High Court saw three successive adjournments without much progress.

The matter, last posted on 4th September before a division bench comprising of Justices AM Shaffique and N. Anil Kumar has now been posted for hearing on 24th September, 2019.

It remains to be seen whether the matters on poker and rummy, critical to the skill gaming industry will gain momentum in the next few weeks or see further adjournments.