Rummy as a game of skill excludes gaming liability; maintenance charges and stakes do not make a club a common gaming house.

Rummy played with thirteen cards was treated as a game preponderantly of skill, so it fell within the statutory exclusion for games of skill under the A.P. Gaming Act, 1974. On that basis, proceedings under the Act could not be sustained merely because the club collected maintenance charges or because stakes were involved, since such incidental features did not convert the premises into a common gaming house. The cards used for rummy were also not treated as instruments of gaming for the purposes of the Act, and the proceedings against the petitioners were liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether proceedings under the A.P. Gaming Act, 1974 could be sustained when the alleged card game was rummy played with thirteen cards, and whether the club premises could be treated as a common gaming house on the basis of maintenance charges and the stakes involved.

Analysis: Rummy was treated as a game preponderantly of skill and not a game of mere chance. Section 15 of the A.P. Gaming Act, 1974 excludes games of skill only from the operation of the Act. The mere collection of small amounts towards maintenance of the card room did not, by itself, make the club premises a common gaming house. Once the game itself fell outside the Act, the presence of stakes was immaterial. The cards used for playing rummy were not instruments of gaming for the purpose of Sections 3 and 4 of the Act.

Conclusion: The proceedings were not maintainable against the petitioners and were liable to be quashed; the petitioners were entitled to relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A game which is preponderantly one of skill, such as rummy, is excluded from gambling legislation by the statutory exception for games of skill, and incidental charges or stakes do not convert the premises into a common gaming house.

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