As soon as Tamil Nadu State Governor RN Ravi approved the online gaming ban bill, gaming industry body, All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) announced that they will be contesting the legality of the law.
CEO of AIGF, Roland Landers, went on to say that skill games like online rummy prohibits random number generation to keep the game fair for all players, saying, “What this law in effect does is treat and conflates games of skill as gambling and games of chance.”
He said, “We have full faith that our judicial system will uphold the fundamental rights of the gaming platforms and their users. Speaking on the effect it will have on online gaming, Landers said that the new bill result in ban of several skill games.”
He further added, “This is disappointing as it disregards the six decades of established legal jurisprudence and also the recent judgment of the Madras High Court which struck down a similar law. The Central government has anyway notified the online games rules, and as we have said, the Central government has the rightful mandate under the Indian Constitution to regulate online gaming.”
The All India Gaming Federation has been keeping in touch with the Tamil Nadu government, according to Landers, and informing them about the illegal offshore betting websites that will be even more common if they ban the constitutionally protected India apps.
Landers said, “We had provided various consumer protection and other measures, which stop short of an outright ban. In such a scenario, this is unfortunate.”
In addition to this, Landers also said that it is better not to wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict, as he opined that the High Court’s decision was categorically based to benefit gambling operators and platforms.
Showing his faith in the Judicial system, Landers said, “As the oldest and largest industry body, representing the most number of Indian MSME start-ups, we will challenge the constitutionality of the law, once the effective date is notified. Our judicial system will uphold the fundamental rights of the gaming platforms and their users.”