Fantasy sports offered by Dream11 are games of skill, not chance: SC

Two-judge bench dismisses review petition seeking to reopen and review an earlier SC order relating to a 2017 Punjab and Haryana HC decision ruling fantasy sports to be a game of skill

The Supreme Court has upheld the fantasy sports format offered by fantasy gaming unicorn Dream11 as a game of skill and not chance.

The Supreme Court (SC) bench, comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari summarily dismissed a review petition filed by Varun Gumber who sought the reopening and review of an earlier SC order relating to a 2017 Punjab and Haryana High Court decision ruling fantasy sports to be a game of skill.

The review petition by Gumber claimed that there was an error apparent in the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement. The petition was dismissed by the SC “both on the ground of delay as well as on merits.”

The court said that there was a delay of 1,586 days in filing the review petition for which no sufficient cause was shown by the petitioner. “Even otherwise on merits also, we are of the view that the order of which review has been sought does not suffer from any error apparent on the face of the record warranting its consideration,” the order said.

In total, seven petitions have been dismissed by the SC, three of which pertained to the applicability of GST on fantasy sports. The GST applicable would be different depending on whether a game is classed as that of skill or chance.

Currently, 28 per cent tax is levied on games of chance, while games of skill pay 18 per cent GST.

The SC had in an earlier order upheld the legality of fantasy sports as a legitimate business and game of skill.

In July 2021, an SC bench comprising Justice B R Gavai and Justice Rohinton Nariman had upheld the legality of fantasy sports. The bench said that the issue was no longer res integra (unique) as Special Leave Petitions (SLP) had been dismissed by the Court as early as 2017. Justice Gavai relied on this 2021 order to dismiss another SLP on the matter a year later in September 2022.