Online Rummy in India is Legal, Except in States that Ban Online Gambling
Rummy has always been a traditional social game in India but its popularity as an online game picked up after the Supreme Court ruled it’s a game of skills. The judgment gave playing for stakes in rummy games the distinction of being legal, since it’s more of a competition between players who have skills at strategizing game plays and applying mathematical calculations to effectively block or frustrate the game play of other players.
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As a matter of fact, after the highest court of the land came out with the ruling in 2015, a subsequent 2016 report published by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICC) stated that online rummy takes up 40% of the online gambling industry in India. At that time the country’s entire online gaming industry was already worth INR 26.5 billion. Moreover, the FICC reported that at any given time, around 20K to 30K Indians across the country are playing Rummy; except in states that have existing laws that prohibit online gambling.
Why Playing Rummy Online is More Advantageous
Now more than ever, playing rummy online has greater advantage because it poses as a safer alternative playing at land-based gaming facilities amidst the worsening COVID-19 health crisis.
The greater advantage of playing in rummy-dedicated gaming platforms is that of having access to free rummy games, which are useful in practicing, as well as improving one’s skills at card melding. Still, melding cards into one-of-a-kind sets of sequential cards or a match of 3 or more same-value cards is only one aspect of a rummy game.
A rummy player also has to carefully select the cards to discard as well as to dispose of deadwood cards in a timely manner. The purpose of which is to prevent other players from getting ahead of the card-melding competition.Similar to poker, players may resort to bluffing as a way to make or force a certain player discard cards that one needs to complete a set or match. Deadwood cards can make or break a player’s game play, as they could hurt chances of achieving the highest scores or of having the lowest total points for unmatched cards at the end of a round.
As it is, there are numerous rummy variations, which makes knowledge of the game mechanics a must before competing in a rummy cash game.
Game Mechanics of Indian Rummy
In India, the most popular variant is the Indian Rummy because the game mechanics are less intricate but without affecting the challenging aspects of rummy games. Here, the game mechanics simply involves drawing and discarding cards but with care. Since players have the option to draw the top card of either the closed deck or discard pile, the next player can pick up the card discarded by the player before him.
Every card held as hands has a corresponding point, with value cards having the same point, while royals (Kings, Queens and Jacks) have an equivalent of 10 points each. Jokers have zero points because they simply serve as wild cards that can substitute for another card.
As a round of game progresses, completing a set or a match, decreases the total points of the cards held as hands. While it’s important to discard high cards like the royals, make sure that the player who is about to draw does not need it. Otherwise, when it comes to comparing scores of melded cards, high value sequences or matches that include royals make up the highest points.
That is why it’s also important to keep track of other cards being discarded by other players as they can give useful hints about the cards to meld or to give away. The tricky part though is one can only pick up a player’s discard if it’s his turn to draw a card.