PMK leader and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has asked the Tamil Nadu government to enact a law to ban online gaming for stakes. He also added that the new law must be put forth during the Assembly session.

The senior leader’s comments came after Madras High Court, on 3 August 2021, lifted the ban on online games for stakes in the state. He added that the advertisements about online gaming are luring people into it. 

The PMK leader argued that one person committed suicide after losing thousands of rupees in the Villupuram district of Chennai 16 days after the ban was lifted in the state.

Earlier in August, the Madras high court also declined a petition to ban online games in the state. This petition was put forth by the AIADMK and also had a provision for fine or jail for the violators of this new act.

The law proposed by AIADMK was made by amending the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930, (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1930), Chennai City Police Act, 1888 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1988), and Tamil Nadu District Police Act, 1859 (Tamil Nadu Act XXIV of 1859). 

In July last year, the Madurai Bench of the High Court of Madras proposed that the former AIADMK administration implement appropriate legislation regulating the online gaming sector. Soon after the court ruling lifted the ban, Minister S. Reghupathy Tamil Nadu warned that the DMK will once again bring forth legislation prohibiting online games like rummy.

Reghupathy claimed that the public interest was crucial and that the DMK administration will come up with a law banning online gaming according to proper procedures and solid causes.