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The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, along with a separate public-interest petition from the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change. The CASC plea asks for action against online gambling and betting platforms that allegedly operate under the cover of social and e-sports games.

The batch is led by Dr K A Paul. In the hearing, the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, to complete the pleadings in the meantime. One of the grounds raised is whether a complete ban on real-money gaming, including skill-based games like rummy or poker, violates the fundamental right to carry on trade or business.

Lawyer Virag Gupta said another bench headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala had earlier asked the Centre to respond to his plea on 17 October 2025, but the government had still not filed a reply. He also said the bench was given a list of 2,000 gaming apps that were allegedly still carrying out betting and gambling activity in India despite the law.

CASC is asking the Union ministries for electronics and information technology, information and broadcasting, finance, and youth affairs and sports to take a harmonious view of the online gaming law and state laws. It wants the court to stop gambling products that are presented as social and e-sports titles, and says the spread of those apps is causing wide social and economic harm.

The official background note from the Press Information Bureau says the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 was enacted in August 2025, and the rules came into force on 1 May. The framework is built around six pillars, including the Online Gaming Authority of India, registration, user safety features, a two-tier grievance system, and penalties and enforcement.

That framework imposes a complete ban on all forms of online money games, whether they are games of chance, games of skill, or a mix of the two. It also bans advertising and facilitation, bars banks and payment systems from processing related transactions, allows unlawful platforms to be blocked under the Information Technology Act, and sets penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to one crore rupees, or both, for first offences.

Repeat offences carry a minimum of three years, which can go up to five, along with fines of one crore to two crore rupees. Advertising online money games can bring up to two years in prison or a fine of up to fifty lakh rupees. The law also empowers cyber cell officers at state and Union territory level to investigate offences.

The PIB backgrounder says India’s online gaming market generated INR 232 billion in 2024, and 77 per cent of that revenue came from transaction-based games. It projects the sector to grow at 11 per cent a year to INR 316 billion by 2027, while estimating that around 45 crore people have been affected by online money gaming platforms and that the losses exceed Rs. 20,000 crores.

Separately, the Supreme Court on 27 May upheld the Centre’s retrospective 28 per cent GST levy on online gaming companies and affirmed state laws that prohibit real-money gaming. In that earlier round, the court said betting and gambling are outside legitimate commerce and that money stakes change the character of the activity for legal purposes.

Enforcement has also been tightening outside the courtroom. On 25 April, MeitY’s Cyber Laws Division warned VPN providers and intermediaries not to enable access to illegal and blocked betting and prediction platforms, including Polymarket, and said users were getting around restrictions by using VPNs and converting rupees into stablecoins such as USDC.

MediaNama reported that the government had blocked more than 8,376 illegal gambling and betting sites by 28 March, but offshore platforms were still reaching users through mirror domains and private channels. A CUTS International survey in Delhi found offshore platform usage rose from 68.3 per cent before the ban to 82 per cent after it, while daily access climbed from 3.4 per cent to 42.3 per cent.

Power Path is PokerStars’ exclusive prize ladder. Every real-money player gets a daily $0.50 Step 1 ticket, which can be traded up into Bronze, Silver or Gold Power Passes, and in August those passes unlock a fresh set of month-specific bundles.

PokerNews reported in April that PokerStars reworked the system on April 27, introducing the $530 Bronze Pass while keeping the $2,500 Silver and $10,300 Gold tiers in place. PokerStars said the goal was a more balanced climb through the ladder, based on player and staff feedback, and the update also added a $109 Spade Pass. May coverage then showed the same live-and-online mix, including a Gold redemption for an EPT Barcelona seat and expenses for August 16-19 and another for $10,300 in Anniversary Series tickets.

For Bronze in August, the main redemption is an online ticket bundle worth $530, plus $23.50 in tournament dollars and a $109 Sunday Million Anniversary ticket. That ticket gives players a shot at a share of a $5 million guaranteed prize pool.

Silver holders have three options. One is an online bundle worth $2,500 in tournament tickets, which the article says is a fit for WCOOP Boot Camp and the upcoming World Championship of Online Poker.

Another Silver option is a €1,650 PokerStars Open Barcelona Main Event package. The rest of the pass value is credited as expenses along with extras, and the event’s recent numbers help explain the appeal: last year’s Main Event drew 5,036 entries, built a €7,251,840 prize pool and was won by Alexis Nicolai for €772,000.

The Gold tier also has an online option, with 71 tickets ranging from $22 to $1,050 plus $32 in tournament dollars. Gold can also be exchanged for an EPT Barcelona package that includes a trio of tournament entries and expenses, headlined by a €5,300 Main Event ticket.

Last August, 2,045 entrants built a €9,918,250 prize pool, Thomas Eychenne won €1,217,175 after a heads-up deal with Sebastian Ionita, and Ionita took €1,117,175.

The third Silver redemption is an APPT Manila Main Event package, which includes a $1,368 seat and $1,132 for expenses. Justin Ong won the 2025 APPT Manila Main Event by outlasting 1,246 entries for the equivalent of $257,443, and the final Day 1d flight for this year’s event is on August 8.

Three Run Up Main Events are set to begin on Aug. 16.

In a recap on its site, ACR Poker said the Sunday lineup starts at 11:05 a.m. ET and includes a $1,050 Main Event with $750,000 guaranteed, a $215 Main Event with $400,000 guaranteed, and a $33 Main Event with $200,000 guaranteed. Day 2 follows on Aug. 17 for all three tournaments.

The August calendar is also led by the Dual Mystery Bounty Venoms, which begin on Aug. 13. The No-Limit Hold’em version carries a $12 million guarantee and a $500,000 top bounty, while the Pot-Limit Omaha version guarantees $3 million with a $250,000 top bounty.

Both Venoms have a $2,650 buy-in, a $5,000 minimum Mystery Bounty, and eight Day 1 flights. Every player who reaches Day 2 is in the money.

Venom Fever is adding more than 1,500 guaranteed seats into those two Venom events. The qualification routes include $0.01 Spin to Get In games, $0.80 Survivor Flips to Venom Madness, Direct Satellites, and the Venom Vault.

The site also pointed to two Beast satellites that awarded 20 Moneymaker Poker Tour Aruba packages worth $5,000 each. July’s recap included the July 28 Moneymaker Bubble Effect, a $0.10 event with a $10,000 guarantee and a $2,650 Venom seat for the player busted on the money bubble, along with the Run Up Series launch on July 12, the $2.5 million guaranteed 25th Anniversary Tournament, and a sponsorship announcement tied to High Times’ Kicking Back docuseries.

Hannes Jeschka won the latest $10,000 GGMillion$ on GGPoker, beating a field of 199 opponents for $406,521 and a $10,000 package to the 2026 WSOP Paradise live GGMillion$ event.

PokerNews reported that the result made Jeschka a two-time GGMillion$ champion. Juan Dominguez was the last player in his way.

Dominguez finished second for $318,747, but his run at a fifth GGMillion$ title will have to wait. The report described him as one of the event’s regulars, with almost 250 appearances, 76 cashes, 37 final tables and four wins.

Jeschka reached heads-up after Viacheslav Balaev bowed out in third. Balaev called off his last 10 big blinds with king-eight after Jeschka shoved from the small blind holding nine-five of hearts, and Jeschka’s hand held.

Four-handed play did not last long. It took just five minutes before Anatoliy Zlotnikov went out in fourth, after Dominguez three-bet all-in with ace-four of diamonds and got called by pocket kings, only for a deuce on the river to make Dominguez a straight.

Dominguez had also sent Mikita Badziakouski out before that. Badziakouski shoved from the big blind with ace-three and ran into Dominguez’s button shove with ace-seven, and the seven kicker played.

Viacheslav Buldygin exited in sixth earlier in the final. He three-bet jammed with jack-ten of spades after Jeschka min-raised on the button with ace-queen of spades, and an ace on the flop ended the hand.

The final duel ended quickly once Jeschka built a more than two-to-one chip lead. Heads-up lasted fewer than 10 hands, and the last pot went to Jeschka after he paused for about 30 seconds and called Dominguez’s river shove on a queen-eight-three board that finished with the four of spades.

More than half of Jeschka’s GGPoker winnings now come from GGMillion$.

Pokerface Ash is back on the online poker streets, and a Pokerfuse Rail item says he is now a tout for CoinPoker.

In a separate Rail post, Pokerfuse also noted that Pokerface Ash had reached 50,000 subscribers on YouTube.