Hopeful of Guv assent to Bill banning online rummy: Min

CHENNAI: State Law Minister S Regupathy on Thursday met Governor RN Ravi and urged him to give his assent to the Bill banning online gambling. Home Secretary Phanindra Reddy was also present.

“We issued clarifications on some of the doubts the Governor had raised and he informed us that the Bill is still under consideration. The Governor also asked us to inform Chief Minister MK Stalin that a decision will be taken at the earliest,” said the Minister, while addressing the media.

The ordinance to ban online gambling was notified in a gazette by the government on October 3 this year, and when the Assembly session was convened in mid-October, a Bill, containing the same provisions as that of the Ordinance, to ban online gambling, was passed by the Assembly and sent to the Governor for his assent.

However, even after one month, the Governor did not provide assent. The Ordinance expired on November 27 and several political parties blamed the Governor for the delay. Regupathy had also accused the Governor of not providing him with an appointment.

Regupathy told Ravi that there was no difference between the provision in the Ordinance and that in the Bill, adding, when the Ordinance was passed, 17 had died over online gambling but the toll had now shot up to 25. The Minister said that there is a huge difference between online and offline card games and the former is programmed to lure players with lucrative offers and many people end up losing money and several of them end their lives, which seriously affect their families. So far, 21 Bills are pending with Governor for his assent, he said. When asked why the Ordinance was not implemented, the Minister said that after the issuance of Ordinance, it was notified in the Gazette. A GO was not issued as the Assembly session was convened and the government was for tabling a Bill to replace the ordinance and the task was completed. Then the Bill was sent to Governor for his assent.