Online betting banned to protect Tamil Nadu people from ill effects: Govt

CHENNAI: Citing at least seven suicides and many crimes related to online betting games, including rummy, in the past five years, the Tamil Nadu government said it was constrained to ban the game to insulate people from its ill effects.
Explaining the severity of the crimes committed by people playing such games, the state home department told the Madras high court on Wednesday: “In one incident a father of two children attempted to murder his kids to threaten his wife and extract money to play online rummy.”
This apart, several children have been reported playing online betting games using credit and debit cards of their parents causing them to financial losses, the department said.
Citing an order dated July 24, 2020, passed by the Madurai bench of the court, the department explained that the suggestion to bring in such prohibition originally came from the high court.
Pointing out a similar prohibition imposed in Telangana, a single judge of the court had suggested that Tamil Nadu government too pass suitable legislation to regulate and control such online betting games, the state added.
“Playing games like rummy and poker online for money or stakes, which are addictive in nature, have developed manifold. As a result, innocent people get cheated and incidents of suicides are reported. People playing online games for money or stakes have lost their earnings and savings,” the state said.
In order to prevent suicides and protect the innocent people from the “evils of online gaming” and on the advice of this court, this issue was taken up for consideration and it has been decided to ban wagering and betting in cyber space by suitably amending the relevant legislations, it added.
Responding to the submissions of the gaming companies that the Supreme Court has already declared as a game of skill, the state said: “The present ordinance prohibits only playing rummy with stakes in a common gaming house and cyberspace and the same is not contrary to the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court.”