Imagine 100 years from now when someone, somewhere is delving into the history of online poker, looking into how the industry started, developed, and experienced various trials and tribulations along the way.
One such trouble the future researcher will discover is that laws in certain jurisdictions forbade people to play online poker. Present day, there are thousands of poker players in America, Australia, and other regions who have encountered that problem, having to relocate just to legally play a simple game of online poker.
I imagine the 2117 researcher may get a big laugh out of that. "You mean online poker players were forced to leave their homeland to log on elsewhere?" he or she may ask.
The answer is "yes." And unfortunately, we can add a new jurisdiction to the ones that have already put the kibosh on playing online poker, requiring serious players to become poker refugees.
Gujarat, a state in the western part of India.
Gujarat High Court Justice Rajesh H. Shukla passed down a ruling earlier this month in which he rejected poker as skill arguments put forth by the Indian Poker Association and others. His finding that poker is predominantly a game of chance and is therefore, gambling, has created an uncertain future for online poker in Gujarat, a state that is home to 63 million Indians.
As a result of Shukla's decision, several poker sites servicing Gujarat, including PokerStars, have decided to withdraw from the region, dealing a blow to players. While an appeal of the ruling is expected, that is hardly solace for players residing in Gujarat who make their living playing poker.
Living Like a Refugee
One such player is Vatsalya Rao, whose post on social media caught the eye of PokerGuru. Rao's plea to his fellow poker-playing Gujaratis highlights his need to get out of town in order to play poker.
“Hello, I am considering moving to Bangalore or some other 'stable' place in terms of poker legality in India. Atm I am living in Gujarat. Anyone interested in pooling together to live at some place nice in Bangalore please drop comment below or PM me. Things are looking bad but hopefully this is an opportunity for us to set up a nice place where poker grinders can live together and help each other out in a distant place where we might not have any family members or people we know."
India is thought by many poker industry honchos as a region that could provide the next "poker boom." With a population of 1.3 billion and gaming via smartphones growing by leaps and bounds, the country just may prove the prognosticators correct.
However, the decision by Justice Shukla is a definite setback in that regard. Especially for players in Gujarat.