CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has amended three acts which were passed before Independence to implement a ban on online gaming by passing the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 which was published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary.
The acts that were amended are 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).
Gaming by means of cards or dice in the form of betting or wagering has been banned in the cities of Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli by the Chennai City Police Act, 1888 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1888) and later under Tamil Nadu Act 32 of 1987 and Tamil Nadu Act 51 of 1997 and in the rest of the state by the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1930).
Under the Gaming Act, the state government has inserted some provisions wherein the words ‘computer’, ‘communication device’, ‘computer network’, ‘computer resource’, ‘computer system’, ‘cyber cafe’, and ‘electronic record’ used in this Act shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Information Technology Act, 2000.
It has inserted Section 3A, which states that, "No person shall wager or bet in cyberspace using computers, computer system, computer network, computer resource, any communication device or any other instrument of gaming by playing rummy, poker or any other game."
The ordinance inserts the word cyber cafe under the Act as well as electronic record, computers, computer system, computer network, computer resource or any communication device under the amendment. It has also enhanced the usual punishment which was Rs 500 and three months imprisonment. People found gaming online will be fined Rs 5,000 and be punished with a six-month sentence, while those who open or keep open online gaming houses will be fined Rs 10,000 and be imprisoned for two years.
It also bans “electronic transfer of funds” used for wagering or betting, distributing the winnings, prize money besides punishing the persons who are running the company which conducts online gaming by wagering and betting.
Similarly, the Act omits the expressions “Definition of ‘imprisonment’, ‘gaming’, ‘Instruments of gaming’, ‘common gaming-house’ and ‘conviction' under the Schedule to the Tamil Nadu District Police Act, 1859. Apart from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have already banned online gambling.
Over half-a-dozen people in Tamil Nadu ended their lives in recent days after falling into a debt trap due to online gambling. The ban comes after the state government informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, hearing the Public Interest Litigation filed by a Madurai resident seeking a ban on online gaming apps, that it was actively considering banning online games.