CHENNAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and BCCI president and former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, for their involvement in online sports app advertisements that have made youngsters gamble on money.
The case was filed by Advocate Mohammed Rizvi before Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice B. Pugalendhi after some youngsters died in Tamil Nadu after losing money while playing a fantasy cricket league on the apps.
Notices have also been issued to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Central and State governments, actors Prakash Raj, Tammanah Bhatia, Rana Duggubati and Sudeep and others, as respondent parties.
While Kohli (10th respondent) promotes online gaming app Mobile Premier League, Ganguly (11th respondent) endorses fantasy league app My11Circle. There are other cricketers, too, involved in the promotion of fantasy leagues. Dream11 is the official sponsor of the ongoing Indian Premier League as well as the official partner of the BCCI.
“The apps are in the name of IPL teams such as Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rajasthan Royals (RR) and some apps are also in the name of state’s names. Are these teams playing on behalf of the state,” IANS quotes the Madurai Bench of the Madras HC, which also blamed the owners for using celebrities to earn money through these apps, as having stated.
Earlier, in September, a Special Leave Petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging a Rajasthan High Court order that upheld the legality of Dream11, IANS further reports. The High Court order had also stated that the Rajasthan government did not violate any laws by allowing the company to operate.
On a related note, Bar and Bench reports that Justice Pugalendhi had earlier raised concerns over the lack of regulation when it comes in online games such as RummyPassion, Nazara, LeoVegas, Spartan Poker, Ace2Three, PokerDangal, Pocket52, My11Circle, Genesis Casino, etc. in an order passed in July this year.
In his July 24 order, the Judge had commented: “A comprehensive regulatory framework by a regulatory body is necessary to regulate the online sports and to curb any illegal activities as well. In fact, such regulation of online sports would encourage investment in the sector, which could lead to technological advancements as well as generation of revenue and employment.”
At the time, the Judge had confined himself to raising awareness regarding the issue, while leaving it to the government to take a call on whether a law should be introduced to counter the concerns after considering the views of relevant stakeholders.
