The draft will become a law after the Tamil Nadu Governor signs it in deference to the Cabinet’s decision. The government will then notify the date on which it will take effect.
The Tamil Nadu government had taken cognisance of reports suggesting online gambling behind suicides, particularly on youngsters including schoolchildren. Retired judge K Chandru had filed a report in June recommending the ordinance, besides asserting that the onlines games required little skill, pushed participants down a debt spiral, and exposed them to psychological impact.
The government had revised its ordinance draft based on Justice Chandru’s 71-page report with additions from surveys conducted among schools by the school education department, and e-mailed responses to questionnaires sent across to stakeholders on the impact of online gaming with stakes.
The ordinance cleared by the Cabinet on Monday is a second attempt by the MK Stalin-led DMK regime after the Madras High Court, in August 2021, struck down a gaming law-amendment that prohibited wagering on online games.
Similar attempts by neighbouring states Karnataka and Kerala have also been struck down by the respective high courts, said Justice Chandru. The revised law, Chandru told ET, argues that an online version of rummy governed by a computer algorithm allows little room for skill, besides underscoring the debilitating effect on people participating in these games.
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Early this month, the Supreme Court had issued notice to respondents on Tamil Nadu government’s plea challenging the Madras High Court of August 2021 disallowing the ban. The Karnataka Government, too, had moved the apex court in March this year, looking to ban betting on online games.
Tamil Nadu had earlier said its decision to move an ordinance would be a “model for other states to follow.”
Technology and gaming lawyer Jay Satya said it was still unclear if “games of skill” are covered under Tamil Nadu’s revised law passed Monday. “It will be surprising if the state government once again decides to ban skill-based games for stakes, an activity that was held to be a fundamental right by the Madras High Court in August 2021.”
Two years ago, the then BJP MP from Karnataka KC Ramamurthy had demanded in the Rajya Sabha that the Centre ban online rummy, saying it had become an addiction among the youth and that it was not a game of skill, but gambling.
