09-05-2025
PIL seeks ban on opinion trading platforms; Punjab and Haryana HC issues notice to Centre, RBI and SEBI
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday sought the Centre's response on a PIL seeking a ban on opinion trading alleging that it promotes online betting.
A bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel issued notices to the Union of India, Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India, Enforcement Directorate, State of Haryana and others.
Former Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda appearing for Advocate Anuj Malik, who has filed the PIL, said the platforms were permitting betting.
He referred to a platform that pays money to users for guessing the outcome of cricket matches.
Nanda, assisted by his Advocate wife Rameeza Hakeem, contended that state governments and authorities like SEBI have to write to the Centre to take down these sites.
The petitioner who is also a member of the New India organization sought relief/ action against the continued and unchecked operation of certain online platforms that, under the guise of opinion trading, are engaged in illegal betting and gambling activities.
These platforms permit users to bet/wager on the outcome of uncertain and speculative events such as cricket wins and losses, election results bitcoin/market movements and current affairs which are nothing but games of chance.
'Such activities are a violation of the the Public Gambling Act 1867, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 Section 112 and state specific legislations including Haryana Prevention of Public Gambling Act 2025 and the Information Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021, as amended in 2023 which lay down express obligations to restrict such content and platforms,' read the PIL.
The seriousness of this issue is also presently engaging the attention of other high courts in this country including ones that are pending before the High Court of Gujarat and the Bombay High Court, it added.
Further these entities thrive on surrogate advertising celebrity endorsements and manipulative digital marketing to target impressionable users particularly the youth despite a legal statutory bar and repeated regulatory advisories from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the petition contends.
The Petitioner has sought appropriate directions to secure the enforcement of existing legal and regulatory frameworks and to protect the public , particularly youth and vulnerable persons from the harm caused by these platforms.
He has sought prohibition on promotion, advertisement, operation, and facilitation of such illegal betting platforms.
