Chennai: Amid continuing suicides, the Tamil Nadu Government has banned online rummy betting game by issuing a gazette in this regard. The Government also plans to set up a regulatory commission to check the remaining online games apart from online betting.
Once formed, the commission will be headed by a retired chief secretary and will have IT experts, psychological counsellors and online gamers as its members, the gazette said. The commission will have the mandate to regulate permissions for online games in upcoming days. The Government also banned advertisements relating to online gambling.
Besides, the banks have also been restricted from financially supporting the online gaming companies. The persons found playing online chance games will be imprisoned for 3 months or will be charged a fine of Rs 5,000, according to the gazette. Those found involved in advertisements for online betting games will be charged a fine of 5 lakhs rupees.
Stating that rummy and poker online games have been banned, the TN gazette said that even the court can't interfere in the punishments given by the commission. "Online gambling and online games are addictive in nature and increase the threat to public order manifold, while posing difficulties in designing appropriate regulation," the gazette explained.
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