Chennai
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Friday promulgated an ordinance to ban online gaming such as rummy to prevent people from falling into a debt trap and ending their lives. Recently, the Madras High Court had asked the state to explain the progress on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s announcement that online gambling would be banned.
“Due to online gaming, innocent people mainly youngsters are being cheated and some people have committed suicide. To avoid suicides and protect the innocent people from the evils of online gaming, the government have submitted a proposal to the governor to promulgate an ordinance by amending the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1930), Chennai City Police Act, 1888 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1888) and the Tamil Nadu District Police Act, 1859 (Tamil Nadu Act XXIV of 1859),” a Raj Bhavan release said on Friday night.
The ordinance provides for banning persons who are wagering or betting in cyber space using computers or any communication device or resource. The people, who are found gaming, will be punished with a fine of Rs5,000 and 6 months’ imprisonment. The people who open / keep common gaming house will be punished with a fine of Rs10,000 and 2 years’ imprisonment.
The ordinance also bans “electronic transfer of funds” used for wagering or betting, distributing the winnings, prize money and provides for punishing those running the company which conducts online gaming by wagering and betting.
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