Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP DNV Senthilkumar S. spoke regarding the Bill banning online gaming and online gambling in Tamil Nadu during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha today.

Senthilkumar said that the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill, 2022 was sent to the Governor for his assent four months ago but it has not been given by him yet.

He claimed that 42 people have lost their lives in Tamil Nadu due to losing money in online gambling. Senthilkumar also said that the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had recently emphasized that making gambling laws is a state subject under the Constitution, and urged parliamentarians to pressurise the state governments to enact legislation against it.

The Dharmapuri MP put forward the question before the House as to why the Governor has not given his assent to the Bill as well as asking to know what had transpired in the meeting between the online gaming industry representatives and Governor RN Ravi.

Last week, the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw suggested that there should be a central law to regulate the online gaming industry. He went on to answer questions asked by Lok Sabha members regarding various aspects of the online gaming industry.

A similar request to ban online gaming and gambling in TN has also been made by Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss. In fact, the PMK leader has been vocal about the suicides from online gaming for a very long time now.

Ramadoss recently tweeted asking why the Governor is still withholding his assent for the online gambling ban bill. He added that the Governor should not be stubborn and he himself is also partly responsible for the suicides which have occurred since the online gambling ban bill was passed in the Assembly.

“The governor should accept the government’s explanation of the online gambling ban if satisfactory; and If it’s not, send it back. Don’t do both and lay the law aside and allow online gambling suicides,” Ramadoss concluded.