Sikkim, and Telangana.
The court queried the plaintiff about the legitimacy of allowing online rummy.
“when the respondent Police are very particular in implementing the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act by registering a case even if a person is playing cards near a thorny bush, how online rummy is permitted in the State of Tamil Nadu. Not only in the State of Tamil Nadu but also in the entire Country, such online games, viz., RummyPassion, Nazara, LeoVegas, Spartan Poker, Ace2Three, PokerDangal, Pocket52, My11Circle, Genesis Casino, etc., are mushrooming and there are so many advertisements appearing in almost all the social media and websites.”
The court raised concerns about how these companies do comply with various laws from states as well as the center, but techno-legal requirements of these laws are not being followed.
Rummy, since it has gambling and betting involved, should not be considered as a game of skill as per the Madurai Bench. The defense mentioned that neighboring Telangana had amended the Telangana Gaming Act, 1974 with Act.29 of 2017banning online gambling.
Sikkim has passed the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act 2008, and through future amendments grants licenses to online and sports games regulated as well as gained millions in revenue from this industry.
Nagaland has the only online gambling licensing framework and set up in the country and benefits significantly from the lack of competition from other states while generating plenty of tax revenue for the state.
Telangana among a handful of other states, however, has completely banned any form of gambling, and they lie on the other end of the collective views on gambling. However, the clarity and directness in the laws make matters simple for businesses to navigate and focus on the other 28 states and 7 union territories, all of whom are spread quite widely on the legality spectrum for online gambling.
“To regulate the physical sports/games, we are having a legislative set up, but having such a set up to deal with the emerging online games / virtual games is the need of the hour. A comprehensive regulatory framework by a regulatory body is necessary to regulate the online sports and to curb any illegal activities as well. Such regulation of online sports would encourage investment in the sector, which could lead to technological advancements as well as generation of revenue and employment,” Madurai Bench, Tamil Nadu High Court.
Tamil Nadu, with a little over 6% of India’s population, disproportionately contributes 8.55% of the countries GDP or more than any other state in the country apart from Maharashtra. And this request comes from the Madurai bench of the Tamil Nadu high court, which can trigger or be used as a basis for further actions. This comes at a time when the whole country is reeling economically, from a steep drop in tax revenue and rising expenditure to growing unemployment are challenges being faced at scales possibly not seen before. And online gaming, especially the Real Money Games industry, has seen a growth spurt higher in the first half of 2020 than in any year before this. A regulated Real Money games market can be a massive source of revenue, job creator, and possibly be a positive point in the otherwise recessionary economy.
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