HC notice on plea seeking ban on online gambling

Chennai

A division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha before whom the plea moved by a Chennai-based advocate AP Suryaprakasam came up for hearing on Tuesday, directed both the State and the Centre to submit their response within three weeks.

The petitioner, while naming cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Tamannaah of actively promoting online gambling, submitted that when there is a ban on real-world gambling, the lack of rules has led to the mushrooming of ‘unethical and immoral online gambling’, resulting in a lot of youngsters getting addicted to it. Seeking to close all the gambling sites, the plea on pointing out that the services of celebrities like Kohli and Tamannaah are engaged to brainwash youngsters to fall into the trap of gambling, sought to arrest them for getting youngsters hooked to such illegal gambling and abetting suicide. The Madurai bench in a recent order had asked the State to bring in a law to regulate online gaming.