Rummy legal in India


Is rummy legal in India?

Legal opinion on Rummy

The Honorable Supreme Court of India ruled that games like Rummy, Chess, Bridge and Carom are games of skill making them perfectly legal under the current laws. The game of Rummy has been declared by the courts of law to be a game of skill or mere skill. Games of skill or mere skill are excluded from the applicability of laws prohibiting betting and gambling. So it is completely legal in India to play rummy online for cash at Deccanrummy.com.

Court Rulings

Supreme court Judgement on Rummy

1967 - State of Andhra Pradesh vs. K. Satyanarayana & others

Definition of Gambling
Gambling is defined as betting and wagering on games of chance only. Games of skill, irrespective of whether they are played for money or not are exempted from the definition of gambling.
"... a competition which substantially depends on skill is not gambling. Gaming is the act or practice of gambling on a game of chance. It is staking on chance where chance is the controlling factor. It would not include games of skill like horse racing"
1967 - Rummy is a game of Skill
"Rummy, on the other hand, requires certain amount of skill because the fall of the cards has to be memorised and the building up of Rummy requires considerable skill in holding and discarding cards. We cannot, therefore, say that the game of Rummy is a game of entire chance. It is mainly and preponderantly a game of skill."
"A game of skill, on the other hand - although the element of chance necessarily cannot be entirely eliminated --is one in which success depends principally upon the superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness of the player. Golf, chess and even Rummy are considered to be games of skill." 

1996 - Dr. K.R. Lakshmanan vs State Of Tamil Nadu

The Courts have however, made a distinction between games of chance and games involving skill. 
The games based on skill have been held to be absolutely legal but those based predominantly on chance are considered on the nature of gambling and thus illegal.
" A game of chance is determined entirely or in part by lot or mere luck ... a game of skill is one in which the element of skill predominates over the element of chance. The dominant elements-"skill" or "chance"-determines the character of the game." 

Karnataka HC – 1982 - State of Karnataka v. Anantaswamy Iyer

Rummy for stakes to be legal
The game of Rummy with cards is not a game of chance but a game of skill. The collection of commission from the members of the club playing Rummy does not make it a gambling house. Thus, it does not amount to any offence.
Rummy is a mere skill
Competitions, where success depends on a substantial degree of skill, are not "gambling". Despite there being an element of chance, if a game is preponderantly a game of skill it may be called a game of "mere skill”.

Andhra HC - 2002 - State of Andhra Pradesh v. D Krishna Kumar

Rummy not violating laws
Playing rummy even for stakes or money does not violate provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act, 1974. The statutes specifically are worded to save games of skill from any criminal liability.

TamilNadu HC – 2011 - Justice Rajeswaran

Rummy not Gambling
Rummy, on the other hand, requires a certain amount of skill because the fall of the card has to be memorised and the building up of Rummy requires considerable skill in holding and discarding cards.
Further, the Public Gambling Act, which is the central law on gambling and most subsequent state laws on the subject substantially state that "nothing in this Act shall apply to games of mere skill wherever played". The rummy games are protected by the Constitution of India under Article 19[1] (g).

Exemptions to play rummy online at Deccanrummy

State laws of Assam & Orissa does not provide a clear exemption to playing for cash. When we get more clarity on the laws in these states, Deccanrummy.com would consider offering services to the residents of these states.
Until then, Deccanrummy.com does not allow players from Assam & Orissa to play rummy online for cash.
Enjoy playing 100% legal cash game Rummy and Win lots of Cash prizes @ Deccanrummy!