The Rajasthan Government has informed the High Court that it has drafted legislation to curb the menace of online gambling and betting and the matter is presently pending before the appropriate authority.

The submission was made by the counsel for the state before the bench of the then Acting Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Vinod Kumar Bharwani which was dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed to seek framing of appropriate legislation to curb the menace of online gambling and betting.

Having noted the submission of the case, the Court went ahead to dispose of the plea by making it open for the State to consider the matter.

“We only place on record the statement of learned counsel for the State that State has prepared a draft bill and the matter is under consideration,” the Court remarked while disposing of the plea.

It may be noted that Rajasthan Government has prepared a draft to deal with the menace of Online Gambling namely the Rajasthan Virtual Online Sports (Regulation) Bill in May 2022.

As per the draft legislation, a Virtual Online Sports Commission will be set up to regulate online gaming activities in the state and the offenders will face a penalty of up to Rs 2 lakhs for license and advertising violations. The draft law seeks to regulate fantasy sports and esports, however, it does not include skill games such as Rummy, Poker, and Ludo.

Case title – Resource Institute For Human Rights v. Union of India and others [D.B. Civil Writ Petition (PIL) No. 14483/2022]

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