Case:  

Ravindra Singh Chaudhary Vs Union of India (Rajasthan High

Court)
Date of Order: 16th October 2020

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Dream 11 is a fantasy sports platform with over 110 million users playing
fantasy cricket, football, kabaddi, basketball, hockey, volleyball, handball,
rugby, futsal, American football & baseball, on it.
A writ petition was filed in the nature of Public Interest Litigation alleging
that Dream 11 Fantasy Private Limited provides a platform to its uders for
playing sports and games on a virtual platform such as fantasy cricket,
football, kabaddi, basketball and hockey. It is asserted by the petitioner that
the said virtual platform namely, Dream 11 allows its users to register and
play various games, to form their own teams made up of real players for
cricket, football, Kabaddi and NBA with maximum budget of 100 crores. It is
further asserted that users initially have to pay an amount of Rs 100/-, out
of which 20% is retained by Dream 11, whereas

Below are the key points from an Indian High Court’s judgement specifically
regarding Dream11's game. A challenge to this judgement was also
dismissed by the Supreme Court of India:
 The Court, in its ruling, stated that playing the Dream11 game
involves considerable skill, judgement and discretion and that success
on Dream11 arises out of users’ exercise, superior knowledge,
judgment and attention
 The Court also held that ‘the element of skill’ had a predominant
influence on the outcome of the Dream11 game, which follows the
following format:
o Participants have to choose a team consisting of at least
the same no. of players as playing in a real-life sports team
(e.g. 5 in basketball, 7 in kabaddi and 11 in cricket/football)
o All contests are run for at least the duration of one full
sports match
o No team changes are allowed by participants after the start
of the sports match
On this basis, the Court adjudged that playing on Dream11
constitutes a ‘game of mere skill’, which makes the Dream11 game
exempt from the provisions of the Public Gambling Act, 1867 (PGA).
 Finally, the Court held that the Dream11 is a legitimate business
activity protected under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India
Supreme Court, by its order dated 30 July 2021, has dismissed a Special
Leave Petition (SLP) that alleged that the Online Fantasy Sports (OFS)
format offered by Dream11 amounted to gambling, wagering and betting and
is not a ‘Game of Skill’. SC has once again reaffirmed the judgements passed
by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Bombay High Court, and
has upheld the judgment passed by Rajasthan High Court, where the
legality of the online fantasy sports format as offered by Dream11 as a
‘Game of Skill’ was sustained. Thus the legality of Dream11’s online fantasy
sports format as protected by the Constitution of India, is now final by law
and in fact