Poker Players in Gujarat in Trouble With Poker Sites Withdrawing Services From The State

Online Poker in Gujarat
  • Profile picture
  • PG News December 21, 2017
  • 2 Minutes Read

Poker players in Gujarat are in a quandary over the uncertainty of the future of online poker in the state. To make matters worse, a few poker sites have recently withdrawn services from the state leaving players out in the lurch.

Gujarat High Court served the blow on December 4, 2017, when it rejected the petition filed by the Indian Poker Association (IPA) and numerous other clubs seeking recognition of poker as a game of skill.

The petition of Dominance Games Pvt. Ltd. & Others vs State of Gujarat & Others case was rejected by a single judge bench headed by Justice Rajesh H. Shukla who in his decision noted that even playing a game of skill, where betting and wagering is involved would fall within the ambit of gambling.

With the verdict out, the question over the legality of the game was clear and though an appeal to this order is expected soon, Pride Group backed Baadshah Gaming was the first gaming site to stop accepting players residing in Gujarat. Baadshah Gaming put up the notice on their official website stating that the site would not accept poker players from Gujarat and requested players from the state to not play poker on their platform.

Surprisingly the world’s largest online poker site PokerStars was the next one to ban Indian players in Gujarat. The company notified the same to the affected players through an official email earlier this week.

 

Baadshah Gaming

Baadshah Gaming is an online gaming website that offers real money online poker, rummy and fantasy cricket games. The site operates on a singular wallet across its offerings and recently hosted their inaugural live series onboard Casino Pride’s Baadshah Gaming Live poker room.

Following the legal order, the website put up an urgent notice informing and warning the players to stop playing or accessing the website from Gujarat.

The notice read –

“URGENT NOTICE FOR RESIDENTS OF GUJARAT: As per the recent judgment of Gujarat High Court dated 04.12.2017 in the case of Dominance Games Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. vs State of Gujarat & Ors., the residents of Gujarat are not allowed to play Poker on our platform. We request the players residing in the state of Gujarat and/or accessing the website from Gujarat not to play Poker on our website.”

Baadshah Gaming CEO Madhav Gupta speaking to Glaws.in said, “We at Baadshah Gaming will continue to abide by the rules of the land. Since the latest order from the Gujarat High Court, we have suspended poker operations in the state. While we will miss our Gujarat players it is our responsibility to always be legally compliant. We do hope for a quick resolution of this matter and hope that those players also get an ability to showcase their skills in the future.”

Gupta clarified that the deposits of existing players from Gujarat would be refunded but any player account found playing any game on the site would be suspended.

 

PokerStars

With its India launch expected soon, Stars Group owned PokerStars seems to keeping a close tab over the latest legal developments in the country. Earlier this week, the site notified players residing in Gujarat of the new restrictions to real money gaming via email.

The email read –

“We frequently review commercial and regulatory developments around the world. Following such a review, we have taken the step to block residents of the state of Gujarat from access to real money poker play. Player funds remain protected and available for withdrawal, and we hope to offer real money games again in the future.”

Other websites

PokerGuru tried reaching out to other poker sites – PokerBaazi, Adda52 and Khelo365, however, no representative was available to respond at the time we published this article.

 

What Now?

With a population of nearly 63 million, Gujarat has a huge potential for poker players with many already making a living from the mind sport.

After the judgement and following the websites banning residents, poker players residing there have no option but either to move to a different state or stop playing.

Player concerns have already taken social media by storm with a player Vatsalya Rao posting on social media,

Hello, I am considering moving to Bangalore or some other “stable” place in terms of poker legality in India. Atm I am living in Gujarat.

Anyone interested in pooling together to live at some place nice in Bangalore please drop comment below or PM me. Things are looking bad but hopefully this is an opportunity for us to set up a nice place where poker grinders can live together and help each other out in a distant place where we might not have any family members or people we know.

Also any advice, or suggestions are welcome from people who already live in Bangalore or are considering moving there. We can have a nice grind house going there!”

The situation is expected to further worsen for players in Gujarat as other poker websites may withdraw from the state.

Keep following the latest developments on this story right here on PokerGuru!

Content courtesy: Glaws.in

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru