India high court finds fantasy sports a game of skill in landmark ruling

Because it requires a substantial degree of skill, judgment and discretion, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in India has ruled that playing fantasy sports cannot be considered gambling.

The ruling, made by Justice Amit Rawal, was in response to Varun Gumber, a resident of Chandigarh state, The Times of India reported.

Gumber, according to the report, accused fantasycricket.dream11.com of illegal gambling after he lost money while playing some games on the website. The petitioner claimed he deposited INR50,000 ($785) on the website, which he lost when he participated in two fantasy sports matchup games. Gumber asked the court to criminally prosecute the Dream11 under the Public Gaming Act, 1867.

The court, however, rejected Gumber’s petition on grounds that he himself “created a virtual team,” and chose the players himself, which shows that fantasy sports games require substantial skill, efforts and statistics.