BAN ON ONLINE RUMMY: As Centre terms it illegal, TN govt buys time in HC

CHENNAI: The Union government informed the Madras High Court that the State government doesn’t have the legislative competency to enact a law to prohibit online rummy.

The online gaming companies moved the Madras High Court (MHC) challenging the law enacted by the Tamil Nadu government to ban online rummy and poker in the State through the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Games Act 2022. The Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan appearing on behalf of the Union government said that the State government doesn’t have the legislative competency to enact such laws and it falls under the domain of the central government. He also argued that the Union government has already enacted a law to regulate online games to control betting.

As the case is being heard by Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu, Senior counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Manishankar and Satish Parasaran appeared before the court on Wednesday representing the gaming companies.

The senior counsels said they are wondering how rummy which can be played offline, but cannot be played online. The state failed to provide enough information about how playing rummy online, offline differs. They further claimed that online rummy cannot be considered as less than any other games, it is also a game of skills.

The senior counsel objected to the reasoning of the law enacted that many youngsters are addicted, especially in south India, by playing online rummy. They argued that there is no empirical data provided about the addiction to online rummy. It is argued that the gaming companies set up a self-regulatory system to avoid addiction to the game and no minor can access the game.

Retired justice Chandru’s report, based on which the ban order was promulgated, says that there was no skill involved in any of the online games, and they invariably made the players increasingly addicted and, eventually, indebted to the company. Senior counsel fighting on behalf of the companies said they differed and argued that the report didn’t provide space for the gaming companies to represent their side.

Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram, who appeared for the Tamil Nadu government, requested further time to file a counter affidavit. He argued that Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal, who was engaged in this matter, has to be accommodated in the case proceedings. After the state government’s submission, the bench posted the matter to August 1, 2023 for further arguments.