Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma today informed that the state government would table an amendment bill to repeal the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act (MRGA), 2021 during the upcoming Assembly budget session. He took oath as a Chief Minister for second time on March 7.

The ambitious law to permit casinos with a regulation led to protests from civil society and political parties including the alliance partner BJP.

Speaking to reporters after the first cabinet meeting of the MDA 2.0 Government, Sangma informed that the Cabinet had earlier approved an ordinance to repeal the Act. “We are going to put it in the form of a bill as the session is on,” he stated said

2. The Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act 2021, that was repealed by an Ordinance approved by Cabinet last year will now be introduced as a Bill in the Assembly session for regularisation of the Ordinance which repealed the 2021 Act.

— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) March 9, 2023

In an effort to boost tourism, Meghalaya passed the contentious legislation last year. On November 10 last year, the government had promulgated an ordinance to repeal this controversial enactment following stiff opposition which included church leaders.

Before promulgating the ordinance to repeal the law, the government has notified the Gaming Commission headed by former Allahabad High Court judge Naveen Srivastava. In July, the state government of Meghalaya has appointed online gaming and betting consultant Jaydeep Chakravarty as the expert member of the Meghalaya Gaming Commission. The government further issued three provisional licenses before wide spread protests began in the state in opposition to the casinos.