Haryana bans opinion buying and selling apps | Mint

Haryana has banned opinion buying and selling apps that permit betting on future occasions retrospectively from 9 April, in accordance with an official Gazette notification reviewed by Mint. 

Prompted by a public curiosity litigation and subsequent excessive courtroom intervention, the transfer renders platforms like Probo, SportsBaazi, and MPL Opinio unlawful inside the state. 

The state authorities ordered the ban beneath its Prevention of Public Gambling Act, 2025.

This month, the Chhattisgarh High Court additionally directed geo-blocking of platforms like Probo, SportsBaazi, and MPL Opinio inside the state, although it allowed them to function elsewhere within the nation. 

While firms didn’t instantly reply to media queries, MPL Opinio stopped operations in Haryana earlier this week — earlier than the formal notification bringing the legislation into power. Though the Act exempts video games of talent, it leaves out codecs like fantasy sports activities, elevating issues over authorized ambiguity. 

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The Haryana Prevention of Public Gambling Bill, 2025 is aimed toward curbing public playing, together with betting on sports activities and elections.

One of the important thing provisions of the Act targets match-fixing and spot-fixing in sports activities, making such offences punishable with a minimal of three years’ imprisonment, which can lengthen to 5 years, together with a wonderful of at least ₹5 lakh. Repeat offenders face harsher penalties, with imprisonment of as much as seven years.

However, whereas the Act was enacted earlier, it has solely now been notified.

Previously, the Securities and Exchange Board of India additionally distanced itself from the opinion buying and selling ecosystem, stating that such platforms don’t fall beneath its regulatory purview. 

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Despite lingering authorized ambiguity, the opinion buying and selling area continues to thrive. Industry estimates counsel that over 50 million customers now interact with such platforms, producing almost ₹50,000 crore in annual transaction volumes, with projected revenues of ₹1,000 crore for FY25.

Leading platforms like Probo have attracted important investor curiosity, elevating $28 million from names akin to Peak XV Partners, Elevation Capital, and The Fundamentum Partnership. TradeX counts Y Combinator amongst its backers, whereas SportsBaazi, initially a fantasy sports activities operator, has ventured into opinion buying and selling—highlighting the sector’s rising attraction.

The Haryana legislation broadly defines a “wager” as any settlement—oral, written, or in any other case—between events on the prevalence or non-occurrence of an occasion with an unsure consequence, the place incorrect predictions outcome within the loss or fee of a financial or non-monetary stake.

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