In Tamil Nadu, more than 17 people reportedly killed themselves due to online gaming addiction and financial loss over the years. Just like the previous ADMK government, the ruling DMK wants to ban online gaming, but with an opinion from legal experts.
The DMK government has appointed a four-member committee headed by former Justice K Chandru and sought a report on the impact of online gaming addiction and the possibility of banning it in the state.
Justice Chandru panel tabled the report in June, 2022 recommending banning the web-based online gambling.
Based on the report, the Tamil Nadu government passed an ordinance and forwarded it to the Governor, RN Ravi, for his assent on October 1, 2022. But the Governor did not approve the ordinance and it was lapsed on November 27, 2022.
To justify the delay, clarification was sought by the Governor’s office for which the state government replied within 24 hours.
Tamil Nadu law minister S Regupathy met the Governor to get the bill signed. But the effort of the state government didn’t turn out to be fruitful.
To date, the online game prohibition bill has not received the approval from the Governor. In between this, more than four people killed themselves due to the financial loss and addictive online gambling habit.
Even as the state waits for the assent for the bill, Governor Ravi met representatives from the online gaming industry in the first week of December, 2022. Though there was not an official press statement from his office, but the online gaming industry association confirmed about the meet.
Meanwhile, since the Centre cannot afford to ban a $200 billion worth online gaming industry, the Union IT ministry has come up with a draft regulation that restricts the state governments’ attempts to ban the games.
The draft regulation aims to treat the online gaming industry like a social media company through the rules laid down in the regulation.
Even as the states wish to ban it completely, the IT Ministry’s draft regulations suggest e-gaming companies to register under a self-regulatory organisation.
The draft also suggests that the self-regulatory organisations come up with a screening mechanism to decide permissible gaming, be it a game of chance or game of skills or anything else.
It further suggests to appoint a chief compliance officer who should reside in India. Further the draft regulation demands the companies to verify players KYC to ensure that minors are kept away from such platforms.
When the state government waits for the Governor’s assent to completely ban the online rummy in the state, the Governor’s silence and Centre’s plan to come up with new IT Act leads to a political and constitutional crisis.
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