India’s Supreme Court has dismissed review petitions led by Flutter-owned Junglee Games against its May ruling that upheld Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s bans on online games played for stakes, closing off one of the industry’s remaining routes to restore state-level protection for skill-based real-money gaming.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan rejected the petitions in an order dated 15 October that was published on the court’s website on 26 October. The court condoned the delay in filing but declined oral hearings and decided the matter on the papers, finding no grounds to revisit its judgment. Several connected review petitions from other gaming companies were disposed of in the same order.

Who challenged the ruling

The lead case was Junglee Games India Pvt Ltd v State of Tamil Nadu and others. Alongside Junglee, review petitions were filed by Games24x7 and Head Digital Works, and by industry bodies the All India Gaming Federation and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports, according to reporting by Gambling.com.

The petitioners argued that games of skill form a separate class from games of chance and fall outside the powers of state governments to ban.

What the May judgment held

The court’s judgment of 27 May reversed earlier decisions of the Madras High Court, which had struck down Tamil Nadu’s amendment, and the Karnataka High Court, which had quashed that state’s ban.

It held that once money is staked, the activity amounts to gambling regardless of the skill involved, and that betting and gambling sit outside protected commerce, so no fundamental right to carry them on can be claimed. It also found that states can legislate on public order grounds where online real-money games cause harm, and that the two laws were supported by empirical evidence.

That reasoning was a significant setback for the Indian real-money gaming sector, which for years had relied on the distinction between skill and chance to operate rummy, poker and fantasy products in most states.

Little practical change, but a door closes

The dismissal has limited immediate commercial effect because federal law has already shut the market. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act received presidential assent on 22 August 2025 and bans online money games nationwide, including those offered from outside India. Junglee stopped real-money operations in the country the same day.

Before the Act, Flutter had expected India to contribute around $200m in revenue and $50m in adjusted EBITDA in 2025, and Junglee employed more than 1,100 people.

What the review order does is remove the possibility that the state bans might be struck down if the national law were later diluted or overturned. Challenges to the Online Gaming Act itself are being heard separately and are unaffected by the order. A curative petition, an exceptional remedy the court grants only on narrow grounds, is the only step left in the state-ban proceedings.

Wider implications

For international operators and suppliers that once viewed India as one of the largest untapped real-money markets, the combination of a national ban and a Supreme Court ruling that skill does not shield staked games from gambling laws means any reopening would need new legislation rather than a court victory.

The outcome also strengthens the hand of other state governments that may want to legislate against online gaming in future, regardless of what happens to the federal Act.

Rush Street Interactive grew third-quarter revenue by 39% to $385.9m and almost doubled net income, the US-listed online casino and sports betting operator said on 28 October, as it reiterated its full-year guidance.

Net income rose 93% to $28.7m from $14.8m in the same quarter of 2025, while adjusted EBITDA increased 73% to $62.2m from $36.0m, according to the company’s results release filed with the SEC. Adjusted sales and marketing spend came to $54.7m, or 14.2% of revenue.

The figures show profit growing much faster than revenue. Adjusted EBITDA margin widened to around 16% of revenue from roughly 13% a year earlier, and net income margin rose to about 7.4%, as RSI spread its marketing and platform costs over a much larger player base. Management pointed to that operating leverage in its commentary on the quarter.

Users up 42%

Monthly active users across the group rose 42% to 907,881. In North America, MAUs increased 34% to 300,572, a quarterly record for the region. Latin America, which includes Mexico and Colombia, grew faster, with MAUs up 46% to 607,308.

The two regions remain very different in value per player. Average revenue per monthly active user was $309 in North America and $58 in Latin America, reflecting the higher spend of US and Canadian online casino customers.

“Online casino remains the engine of our profitability,” chief executive Richard Schwartz said. On Latin America, he said revenue growth “continues to be strong on both a gross and net basis.” The company said customers who joined during the football World Cup in the summer are continuing to play across its products.

Guidance held

RSI reiterated its 2026 guidance for revenue of $1.56bn to $1.60bn, implying growth of 38% to 41%, and adjusted EBITDA of $245m to $265m, implying growth of 59% to 72%.

The outlook includes only jurisdictions live at the time of the release and assumes current tax structures continue. That includes Colombia’s temporary emergency 16% tax decree, which the company has absorbed into its forecasts rather than assuming relief.

RSI did not break out revenue between online casino and sports betting in the release. The company operates under the BetRivers brand in most US states and in Ontario and Alberta, and under RushBet in Colombia and Mexico.

Alberta and the wider US picture

The company also pointed to Alberta, where it launched more than three months before the results and where management expects a gradual ramp. The Canadian province’s newly regulated market reported C$56.6m in igaming revenue for September in its first official report.

RSI’s growth stands out against a slowing US online casino market. Data covered by ayo.news this week showed US igaming growth slowing to a record-low 12% in the third quarter, as the established states mature.

Brazil, which weighed on several larger operators’ results this quarter, does not feature in RSI’s release, although CDC Gaming reported that the country’s betting turmoil led discussion of the numbers.

What comes next

With online casino the main profit driver, RSI’s growth outlook in the US depends heavily on whether more states legalise igaming, while in Latin America it is exposed to tax changes in markets such as Colombia. For now, a near-40% top-line increase and a sharp rise in profitability put the operator among the faster-growing listed names in the sector.

Veikkaus, Finland’s state-owned gambling company, will launch a new consumer brand called Viabet in both Finland and Denmark on 1 July 2027, marking its first direct-to-consumer venture outside its home market.

The brand is being built in partnership with streaming and sports broadcaster Viaplay Group. Viabet will be developed, owned and operated by Veikkaus, which will run it through its international arm, while Viaplay will supply selected media content, according to reports by Finnish public broadcaster Yle and the trade press.

“Viabet is a significant strategic step for Veikkaus,” president and chief executive Olli Sarekoski said, as reported by Yle.

Timed to the end of the monopoly

The launch date is no coincidence. On 1 July 2027 Finland opens its online gambling market to licensed competitors, ending the exclusive position Veikkaus has held for decades. The company will keep its own Veikkaus-branded products, but Viabet gives it a second, media-led brand to compete with international operators arriving in the market.

Those rivals are already lining up. Wildz Group said earlier this month that it was the first company to win a Finnish online gambling licence, and ComeOn and SuomiVeto have since joined the first group of licensed operators. Supplier deals are also being signed, with sportsbook providers announcing partnerships timed for the July 2027 opening.

The Finnish reform splits the old monopoly in two. Online casino and betting will be open to licensed private operators, while Veikkaus keeps exclusive rights over lotteries and land-based slot machines. Licensed operators will pay a gaming tax on their Finnish revenue and face marketing rules overseen by the new licensing authority, so Viabet will compete on the same terms as the international brands.

Until now, Veikkaus’s activity outside Finland has been concentrated in its B2B subsidiary Fennica Gaming. Viabet is the first time it will face customers directly in another regulated market.

Why Denmark

Denmark is a natural first target. Viaplay has a large sports audience there and holds key football rights: in April it said it had extended its men’s Champions League rights in Denmark for four years from autumn 2027 to 2031. A betting brand that can sit alongside that content gives Veikkaus a route to customers without building awareness from scratch.

The Danish market, regulated by Spillemyndigheden, is also mature and competitive, with a long list of licensed international operators. Neither company has said whether Veikkaus has applied for a Danish licence, which it will need before Viabet can take bets there.

Advertising rules in flux

The timing brings a regulatory complication. The Danish government has tabled a bill that would introduce a whistle-to-whistle gambling advertising ban and new curbs on affiliates. The proposed restrictions are due to apply from 1 July 2027, subject to parliamentary approval, the same day Viabet is meant to go live.

A tighter advertising regime around live sport could limit how far a broadcaster-linked brand can use match coverage to promote betting, which is a large part of the logic of a media partnership. How the final Danish rules treat sponsorship and in-programme promotion will matter for Viabet’s launch plans.

A hedge abroad

For Veikkaus, which is losing its online monopoly at home, finding revenue in a neighbouring regulated market is a hedge against the market share it is likely to cede to new Finnish licensees.

The deal will also be watched by other broadcasters weighing whether to move from selling betting advertising to holding a stake in a betting brand. Further details on Viabet’s product range and supplier line-up are expected closer to launch.