CHENNAI: After the ban on online gambling by the TN government, online gaming firms dealing in money informed gamers in the State that they will no longer be able to play on their platforms, said official sources. Sources said online gaming platforms like PokerBaazi.com have informed players that they were complying with legal requirements, and players accounts were blocked.
This comes after the ordinance recently promulgated by Governor RN Ravi banned rummy and poker, and considered them ‘games of chance’. It also prohibited online gaming or playing games with money or other stakes. The law which is to be notified soon specifies due diligence by non-local online game providers to inform customers that TN prohibits online gambling and playing of certain online games for players physically present.
The State’s ban was opposed by the All India Gaming Federation and E-Gaming Federation (EGF) that claim the games fall under the category of ‘game of skill’. The real challenge is the difficulty in blocking apps or websites at State-level. Geo-blocking is difficult for gaming firms to implement, and for the State government to monitor. Even if a gaming format is prohibited, access to it can’t be blocked, sources said.
Official sources said the Centre needed to step in to support the efforts of the States. They have to consider the report of the WHO — which officially included ‘gaming disorder’ in the International Classification of Diseases in 2018 — while framing regulations. It is learnt that the Centre is aware of this report, and is meanwhile, pushing for a Uniform Regulatory Framework at Central Level.
A presentation by Rajendra Kumar, additional secretary at MEITY, on IT Rules 2021, indicated most States (such as Haryana and MP) enacted legislations on online gaming based on the erstwhile Public Gambling Act of 1867. Others introduced their own lawsmost States have pre-internet laws which didn’t envisage online gaming. Kumar said while gambling and betting are State subjects, online skill gaming did not fall under its jurisdiction.
State governments erroneously tried to impose blanket bans on real-money skill games, points out Ranjana Adhikari, Partner, Technology, Media and Gaming at IndusLaw, adding that these bans were quashed by the respective HCs as unconstitutional. “The State is trying to impose a similar ban again.
This can be remedied if the Centre distinction between ‘games of chance’ and ‘games of skill’ by utilising the legislative competence available to Parliament under Entries 31, 42, 52 and 97 of List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution and enacts a law on online games of skill,” she said. Official sources said, “Fundamental right to do business can’t be allowed unrestricted, when there is evidence of harm to society.”
Union list for regulating online games of skill
Entry no. 31: Posts and telegraphs; telephones, wireless, broadcasting and other like forms of communication
Entry no. 97 (residuary items): Any other matter not enumerated in List II or List III including any tax not mentioned in either of those Lists
Entry no. 52: Industries, the control of which by the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest
Entry no. 42: Inter-State trade and commerce