When will the Governor approve the ban on online gambling? This is one question that Anbumani Ramadoss, president of the Tamil Nadu regional party Pattalli Makkal Katchi (PMK) has had in his mind for a long time. And his worries increased after the issue of online gambling led to another death in the state. In the past 12 days, this was the fourth death that was caused due to online gambling.
Ramadoss has been very outspoken on this matter, and he had previously urged Governor R. N. Ravi to approve the new online gambling laws. He has strictly been against online gambling and has been making efforts relentlessly to put a ban on gambling activities throughout the country.
Ramadoss blamed the Governor on Sunday for ignoring suicides caused by the massive debt incurred by those who gambled online through mobile apps, and claimed that more cases of this sort are actually happening in the state because the Governor has delayed giving assent to the Bill banning online gambling in Tamil Nadu.
After hearing the news of another death owing to the same reason, he took to his official Twitter account and wrote:
“A driver named Manimuthu from Uthandi Valavu village next to Vazhappadi in Salem district hanged himself after losing lakhs of money in online gambling. My deepest condolences on his demise. This is the 36th suicide due to loss of money in gambling since the online gambling ban was lifted. This is the fourth suicide in 12 days since the ban on online gambling ordinance expired!”
“The increasing number of suicides in recent times is a testament to how deadly online gambling is. If online gambling is not banned, it is inevitable that losing money and committing suicide will become a daily occurrence! There is an urgent need to ratify legislation passed to ban online gambling. It is sad that the Governor is not aware of the suicides caused by online gambling. Prohibition of gambling should be approved immediately,” he further wrote.
Prior to this, the Tamil Nadu government established a commission under the leadership of retired Justice K. Chandru to prohibit online poker and rummy in the state. On June 27, the committee reviewed and delivered its findings to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at the Secretariat for Tamil Nadu. After that, at the Tamil Nadu Cabinet meeting on September 26, it was discussed whether to introduce an ordinance that would outlaw online rummy.
The cabinet then adopted an emergency measure to outlaw online gambling. The Ordinance was then submitted to the Governor for approval. Regarding the adoption of this emergency law passed by the Tamil Nadu government, Governor RN Ravi highlighted several concerns. On behalf of the Tamil Nadu government, Regupathy, the state’s law minister, sought legal advice in response to the Governor’s queries.
Additionally, he had spoken with the Governor and explained the situation. The Governor stated that he is considering the Bill and will take a decision soon after, according to Law Minister Regupathy. Thus, it is anticipated that the Governor will quickly adopt the emergency law that the Tamil Nadu government passed.
