Law min meets guv to clear doubts on gambling bill 

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu law minister S Regupathy met Governor RN Ravi on Thursday with officials over getting assent for the bill to ban online gambling. 

Speaking to reporters outside the Raj Bhavan after the meeting, the minister said the governor told him that he has some more doubts about the bill and he will give his assent after clarifying the doubts. The minister exuded hope that the governor would assent to the bill at the earliest.  

“I discussed the bill with the governor and gave clarifications relating to the bill for half an hour. Online gambling should be banned since we have lost 25 lives to it in the state. There is a lot of difference between online and offline gambling. In online gambling, certain changes are made to the system to enable only the organisers to win the game.

The state government has also referred to the report of the experts' committee, constituted to study the impact of online gambling, in the preamble to the bill,” the minister said. The minister also explained the reason for not issuing a G.O. to ban online gambling after the promulgation of the ordinance.

Using existing laws to control online gambling, says minister

The minister said the ordinance was issued on October 3 and committees were formed for framing rules and regulations for regularising online games and issuing a G.O. Rules and regulations can be framed only after getting the assent for the ordinance, the minister said. Meanwhile, a session of the Tamil Nadu assembly was announced on October 5.

Because of the announcement of the assembly session, it became impossible to issue the G.O. But the ordinance was notified in the government gazette on the same day. Stating that the bill will come into force immediately once the governor gives his assent, the minister said the TN government is controlling online gambling by using existing laws.

The minister’s meeting with the governor came four days after Regupathy on Sunday alleged that the governor has not given an appointment to meet him to clarify his doubts on the bill, and after AIADMK and BJP leaders met the governor separately last week.

26-yr-old driver loses money and ends life 
A 26-year-old autorickshaw driver of Manali in Chennai allegedly died by suicide on Tuesday after losing money playing online rummy. M Parthiban was the sole breadwinner of his family. He got married four years ago and was living with his wife Durga and two daughters 

Man kills self after losing money in game
Chennai: A 26-year-old autorickshaw driver from Manali died allegedly by suicide on Tuesday night after losing all his savings playing online rummy. The deceased was identified as M Parthiban of MGR Nagar. He was married for four years and lived with his wife Durga and two daughters. He was the sole breadwinner of the family. Police said Parthiban started playing rummy online and had had some profit initially.

“He started investing in the game and borrowed money to run the family.” After his birthday on November 1, Parthiban invested all his savings in the game and lost it all. On Tuesday night, Parthiban was found dead at his residence. The Manali police registered a case and launched an investigation.

(If in distress, call Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline at 044-24640050)