Online gaming ban gains momentum in South India

NEW DELHI: A move to ban online gaming is gaining momentum in the southern states with Tamil Nadu joining Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Karnataka also mulling a law banning online gaming. Following the footsteps of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the state of Tamil Nadu has also amended its laws to restrict online gaming within its territory.

The Governor of Tamil Nadu promulgated the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 on November 20, 2020 (Ref: Tamil Nadu Ordinance Number 11 of 2020) (Ordinance).

The Ordinance amends the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 (TN Gaming Act) and extends its territorial scope to cover the entire state of Tamil Nadu. Gaming-related provisions of the Chennai City Police Act, 1888 and the Tamil Nadu District Police Act, 1859 are no more applicable in the State of Tamil Nadu.

According to SurbhiKejriwal, RishabhBharadwaj and AbhishekRao of Khaitan& Co, the Ordinance comes in the wake of the observations of the Madras High Court regarding the addictive nature of online games and its negative effect on the masses.

Similarly, in Mohammed Rizvi v Union of India it has been brought to the notice of the Madras High Court that members of the public end up incurring debts in connection with online gambling activities and that there are instances of people dying by suicide when unable to repay these debts. (IANS)

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