vLex India

The Maharashtra government has decided to ban online lotteries of other states, as there is no way to track online sales of lotteries, which leads to loss of revenue for the state. Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar has decided to make this move to ban online lotteries in the state, as... (See Article)

In India, the state of Kerala has filed suit in the Supreme Court challenging as discriminatory the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, and various prior rules on citizenship for members of certain religious minorities who entered the country illegally. The complaint (full text) in State of Kerala v. Union of India, (India Sup. Ct., filed 1/14/2020), alleges in... (See Article)

A legislation defining various games like poker, fantasy games and sports betting as games of skills has been introduced by state Sen. Justin Wayne (D-Omaha) in Nebraska, United States of America, as reported by Cards Chat. Currently, Nebraska doesn’t allow gambling in most forms. If the bill is passed, it will allow operators in the... (See Article)

The year 2019 can be said to be a watershed year in relation to the employment law regime in India. The Indian government took various steps to simplify and streamline the dated employment legislations, veritably in a bid to rise up in the index of Ease of Doing Business in India. The courts in India... (See Article)

Listed online gaming and casino company Delta Corp Limited announced its results for the third quarter of financial year 2019-20. The company declared that its consolidated net revenues for the period October-December 2019 was Rs. 205.13 crores, which was roughly the same as the revenues it earned for quarter three last year. – Delta’s EBIDTA... (See Article)

  There’s a fine line between legislation addressing deepfakes and legislation that is itself a deep fake. Nate Jones reports on the only federal legislation addressing the problem so far. I claim that it is well short of a serious regulatory effort – and pretty close to a fake law. In contrast, India seems serious... (See Article)

In the matter of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Limited, the Ahmedabad bench of the NCLT has ruled that Section 234 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the FEMA Cross Border Merger Regulations, 2018, do not permit cross-border demergers. Sun Pharma sought to demerge two of its investment undertakings in India into two overseas resulting companies, based... (See Article)

Introduction On December 24, 2019, Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) released a circular setting up a stewardship code for Asset Management Companies (“AMCs”), Mutual Funds (“MFs”) and all the categories of Alternative Investment Funds (“AIFs”) investing in listed Indian companies (“Stewardship Code” or “Code”). In keeping with global trends, SEBI has made it... (See Article)

The Gujarat High Court once again deferred the hearings of letters patent appeals filed against a single judge bench’s order ruling poker to be a game of chance. A division bench of the High Court comprising of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice AJ Shastri did not hear the appeals that were scheduled for arguments... (See Article)

Although the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition alleging that leading fantasy sports operator Dream11 was involved in gambling and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion on 30th April, 2019, another PIL filed against the central and state government, Dream11 and its founder directors Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth has been pending since 5th April,... (See Article)

Rheo TV, an online e-streaming and community platform, raised USD 2 million in an investment round led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Lightspeed and other angel investors. “With this fundraise, Rheo is looking at product and content development and to hire new talent,” said Saksham Keshri, Co-founder and CEO, Rheo. – They are looking at... (See Article)

INTRODUCTION Private equity (PE) transactions in India conventionally comprised minority investments in Indian companies. However, maturing market conditions and an increasingly favouring regulatory landscape have been providing tailwinds to PE firms to undertake buyout transactions. Many PE firms investing in India have gained significant experience to deal with the governance and regulatory risks that Indian... (See Article)

Essel Group promoted Pan India Network Limited, which distributes online lotteries of various state governments under the ‘Playwin’ brand has defaulted on payment of various dues and loans of operational creditors. As per the order of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Pan India Network has defaulted on loans exceeding Rs.... (See Article)

Paytm First Games (earlier known as Gamepind) recently released a report called Gamestats 2019, which reported various stats about their gaming app’s performance in the previous year. As per the report, 45 million users registered on Paytm First Games app in 2019. The platform hosts around 200 games. The biggest amount won by a single... (See Article)

In Rafique v. Managing Committee, Contai Rahamania High Madrasah,(India Sup. Ct., Jan. 6, 2020), a 2-judge panel of India’s Supreme Court in a 151-page opinion upheld a law in the state of West Bengal under which a government appointed Commission selects teachers for Islamic Madrassas. The Court held that the Act does not infringe on the right... (See Article)

Control deals are gaining popularity because of the ability of the incoming controlling shareholder to control the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of the functioning of the business that is housed in the company. Additionally, the stigma associated with promoter’s relinquishing control of their companies is on the wane in India. Despite the market conditions, 2019 saw... (See Article)

‘Tis the season for Poker players in India, as the year 2020 is starting with back-to-back multi-crore poker events, Baazi Poker Tour (BPT) and Indian Poker Championship (IPC), being hosted in Goa in January 2020. Pokerbaazi.com is hosting Baazi Poker Tour ‘20 (BPT ‘20), the third edition of the poker event. The event started on... (See Article)

Baazi Games Group  is set to invest $5 million in the Indian gaming industry. The company is seeking to invest in innovative startups that will develop the latest technology for the gaming industry in the country, as reported by The Bridge. As per Statista.com, the Indian gaming industry has a market value of around Rs.... (See Article)

The Union Territory of Puducherry may be on the path to legalise and permit casinos in the region after three years of dithering and deliberations. As per media reports, although the elected government headed by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy has almost made up its mind to allow casinos in the state for the purpose of... (See Article)

The 38th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council on Wednesday saw a new practice to reach a decision on taxation of state and authorised lotteries. The states, for the first time, voted on the matter, as there were wide differences over whether there should be a single rate or dual rates on... (See Article)

A recent study by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) and Cartesian Consulting Pvt. Ltd. has concluded that fantasy sports players use strategic and skill-dominant techniques rather than relying on chance to play fantasy sports. The study, titled ‘Fantasy Sports: A Game of Skill or Chance’, was led by Dr. U Dinesh Kumar, Professor,... (See Article)

A division bench of the Gujarat High Court comprising of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice AJ Shastri did not hear appeals challenging ban on poker in Gujarat on the scheduled date of 19th December. Letters patent appeals filed by Indian Poker Association Secretary KN Suresh, Dominance Games Private Limited, Aman Chhabra and Hotel Ramada,... (See Article)

On Dec. 12, India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (full text) that was passed by Parliament received assent of the President.  The controversial new law  allows migrants who came into India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan on or before December 31, 2014, and who belong to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian religious communities, to... (See Article)

On December 11, 2019, an updated version of India's draft data privacy bill was introduced in the Indian Parliament by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. (See Article)

Noida-based Rein Games Pvt. Ltd. raised Rs. 5 crore (around $705k) in a seed funding round led by Dr. Ranjan Pai’s Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) family office, Titan Capital and a few other high net-worth individual investors (HNIs). As per Rein Games, the funds raised will be used for enhanced product development, customer... (See Article)

Mobile Premier League (MPL) released a video campaign that features top 10 winners of their recent ‘Meet Virat’ Contest. The video campaign represents the user-centric branding of MPL. The contest held from November 15 to November 22 required players to play any fantasy sports on the platform and win big. The top 10 winners on... (See Article)

The Rummy Federation (TRF), the self-regulatory body for the online rummy industry in India, awarded the TRF Dynamic Seal, a seal of accreditation to four operators in the country, in an event held in New Delhi last week. As per TRF, the online rummy industry in India is worth Rs. 2200 crore and caters to... (See Article)

More than a year after the Government of India’s Committee of Experts released a draft Personal Data Protection Bill in July 2018 (the “2018 draft”), India is one step closer to passing a comprehensive data privacy law. On December 11, 2019, India’s Minister for Electronics and Information Technology introduced an updated draft of Personal Data... (See Article)

A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Rohinton Nariman and S. Ravindra Bhat today dismissed Special Leave Petitions filed by lawyer Gurdeep Singh Sachar, Department of Revenue, Union of India and State of Maharashtra against a Bombay High Court order dated 30th April, 2019 in Gurdeep Singh Sachar v. Union of India &... (See Article)

Leading esports and digital gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) recently conducted an event at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to raise awareness about mobile gaming and esports industry and career options in the industry. As per a report by IFSG-KPMG, the esports industry in India is worth around INR 43.8 billion and is... (See Article)