Tamil Nadu Assembly moves Bill to ban online rummy

CHENNAI: The State government on Wednesday passed the much-anticipated Bill that seeks prohibition of online gambling and regulation of online gaming.

The Bill named the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, took into consideration of the report of Justice Chandru Committee, the findings of the survey among school teachers on the effects of online games on government school students, research studies on the subject and the views of the stakeholders and general public.

With the responsibility to protect the mental health of citizens and to guard against the ill-effects of gambling in any form, the State government formed Justice Chandru Committee in June, this year, and the recommendations were discussed in the subsequent cabinet meetings following which a Bill was sent to Governor RN Ravi and after he gave assent the Ordinance was promulgated, since Assembly session was not in place.

The Bill seeks to set up the Tamil Nadu online gaming authority which will oversee the implementation of the Act. The Act, while it seeks a blanket ban on online gambling seeks regulation of online gaming such as involvement of money in online games of chance, regulating online game providers. The Act also prescribes offences and penalties for players, for people advertising and those providing online gambling service.