The 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’. The Supreme Court has once again reaffirmed the judgements passed by the Punjab & 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.
While deciding on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the High Court of Rajasthan had declined to entertain it, stating that in the light of orders passed by Punjab & Haryana High Court and Bombay High Court, the matter of gambling has already been put to rest. The order of the Supreme Court has once again upheld the format of OFS offered by Dream11.
