India’s Supreme Court rejects Junglee Games review plea, leaving state betting bans intact

Review petitions dismissed without an open hearing

India’s Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of 10 review petitions led by Flutter Entertainment-owned Junglee Games India that challenged its May 27, 2026 judgment upholding state bans on online games played for money or other stakes. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan dismissed the petitions on October 15 without an open-court hearing and also rejected requests for oral hearings, additional documents and other pending applications. The bench said it had found “no merit” in the review petitions.

Junglee Games is 95% owned by Flutter Entertainment. The company had asked the court to reconsider a ruling that set aside lower-court decisions favoring operators and confirmed that states may prohibit wagering involving games of skill.

Skill-based games remain prohibited when played for stakes

The May judgment concerned betting or wagering on games of skill rather than the playing of skill-based games generally. The court said that when betting and gambling enter the picture, the nature of the game ceases to be relevant, and no fundamental right can be claimed to carry on those activities.

The judgment upheld laws in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that prohibit online games played for a bet, money or another stake, including games of skill such as rummy and poker. It also rejected arguments that skill-based gaming operators and industry bodies should be able to challenge those restrictions.

State bans remain effective despite the dismissal

The dismissal closes the latest ordinary challenge to the state restrictions and leaves the May judgment operative. A curative petition, an exceptional remedy available on narrow grounds such as a violation of natural justice, was identified as the remaining route for challenging that judgment.

Junglee Games had also paused its operations in August 2025 following the Indian prime minister’s intervention. The reviewed reporting said Flutter had spent more than $200 million on its majority stake in the business before that pause.

Separate national-law challenge remains pending

A separate constitutional challenge to the central Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 remains before the Supreme Court under the lead case Head Digital Works v. Union of India. The petitioners are challenging the national law on grounds including the division of legislative powers between the central government and states.

The national law’s relevant provisions took effect on May 1, 2026. MediaNama reported that a final hearing in the separate case had been scheduled for October 6 and 7, but said the hearing’s current status could not be independently verified. As of the reviewed reporting, the central-law challenge remained pending, and the state ruling did not establish a timetable for its resolution.