The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday passed a Bill to ban online gambling games, reported ANI. The Bill was introduced by state Law Minister S Reghupathy.
Under the new law, those who participate in online gambling could be fined Rs 5,000, or sentenced to jail for up to three months, or both. Those who advertise such games could be jailed for up to a year, while persons organising them could be imprisoned for three years, according to The Hindu.
The Bill was introduced after a survey conducted by the state government on the impact of online gaming found that 74% of the teachers in the state said that focus of students was adversely affected, while 67% said they noticed more students having eye sight-related problems.
On October 1, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi had promulgated an Ordinance to ban online gambling games like rummy and poker. On September 26 the state cabinet members led by Chief Minister MK Stalin had cleared the ordinance.
The development had come days after the Supreme Court on September 10 issued a notice on a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the Madras High Court’s decision to strike down an earlier law banning such games.
After the state Assembly convened on October 17, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government introduced the Ordinance in the form of a Bill.
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