A four-member committee set up by the Tamil Nadu government to give suggestions for regulating online card gaming on Monday recommended banning of all such games, including rummy, by bringing in a special legislation. Soon after getting the recommendations, the chief minister MK Stalin-led state cabinet took up the matter for discussion.
Earlier in the day, retired Madras high court judge justice K Chandru, who led the committee, submitted a report to Stalin. A committee member said they recommended banning of all online card games.
A government statement on Monday said: “Social organisation drew the government’s attention to various socio-economic crime and suicides since people especially from middle and poor income families were losing a lot of money in online games, suffering debt and depression.”
On June 10, days after a woman in Chennai died by suicide being ridden by debt due to online rummy, Tamil Nadu constituted a panel to submit a report within two weeks to enable the government to promulgate an ordinance regulating online card gaming.
The panel led Justice Chandru comprised technical expert Sankararaman from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Lakshmi Vijayakumar, psychiatrist and founder of SNEHA, an NGO for prevention of suicide and Vinit Dev Wankhede, additional director-general of police.
In the past two weeks, the panel analysed risks of online gaming such as financial loss, suicides and the need to regulate advertisements promoting online rummy which impacts society.
{{/usCountry}}In the past two weeks, the panel analysed risks of online gaming such as financial loss, suicides and the need to regulate advertisements promoting online rummy which impacts society.
{{/usCountry}}The erstwhile AIADMK government under former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami in November 2020 amended a 90-year-old law to ban online games, including online rummy. After a batch of petitioners had challenged this, the high court in August 2021 overturned the ban. The Stalin-led government appealed against the Madras HC order in the Supreme Court and the case has not yet come up for hearing.
Palaniswami has been critical of the DMK government for failing to ban online gaming. NDA ally PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss has also repeatedly fought for the cause saying that when there was a blanket ban, there were no deaths due to online games but after the ban was overturned, close to 22 people have died by suicide in the past 10 months.
A meeting chaired by chief minister Stalin on June 9 where he deliberated with bureaucrats from various departments and the government recognised that people were increasingly becoming addicted to online gaming with stakes and noted recent incidents of some people ending their lives after losing their money and being trapped in increasing debt.
On June 6, a 29-year-old woman died by suicide in Chennai after she lost about ₹10 lakh in online gambling which she had gotten addicted to during the lockdown period. Stalin had earlier said Tamil Nadu would pass a legislation in this matter which would be a model for other states to follow.
After Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Karnataka became the third state in India to ban online gaming last September by bringing in a legislation. The legislations enacted by Karnataka and Kerala have also been struck down by the respective high courts.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104 and SNEHA’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)