Online Legal Precedent On Lotteries

Published: Sunday, June 04, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

ONLINE LEGAL PRECEDENT ON LOTTERIES

Bans have to be fairly applied say Indian judges

DH News Service out of Bangalore, widely regarded as the IT capital of India reported an interesting Internet legal challenge this week involving a government ban on Internet lotteries which was set aside.

A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court set aside the State's ban on Internet and online lotteries. The Bench comprising Justice R Gururajan and Justice C R Kumarswamy made the judgment after hearing pleas by Sikkim and Meghalaya lottery agents who challenged a June 24, 2004 government ban.

In their judgement the judiciary observed that the State alone can ban lotteries, but that prohibiting only one kind of [online] lottery while allowing others to operate is contrary to the law declared by the Supreme Court:

If there has to be a ban, it has to apply to all for fairness and the State should be a no-lottery zone, the judges found. While setting aside the ban, the Bench observed that the judgment was to be understood in the context of facts placed before the court and not as ever prohibiting the State from banning lotteries in accordance with law.

The plaintiffs in the case had contended that the notification of the ban violated Article 19 of the Constitution.