Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said he will take action against online rummy apps. He was responding to a zero-hour query in the assembly raised by Congress MLA Sankalp Amonkar representing the Mormugao constituency.

Amonkar had claimed that online gambling was “dangerous” for youth. The MLA had said, “Many governments have banned it and hence, the Goa government should also ban online Rummy Circle gaming.”

“Rummy, three cards, pokers, etc are dangerous. These are easily accessible to youth. They are addicted to these games. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Orissa, and Nagaland have banned online gambling,” the Congress legislator said in the assembly.

Amonkar also said that the most worrisome element about these online betting games was that they had students putting up large volumes of money to participate in them. He cited an example of his friend who lost INR 5 lakh in the last three months.

“One can start playing these games at Rs 5 to a range of Rs 10,000. Even one can extend the limit above Rs 40,000 per day. It is a complete scam. The government is not monitoring it.” Amonkar said.

It is worth noting that nearly a year after the Kerala High Court set aside a state government notification prohibiting online rummy games, Kerala is contemplating an amendment proposal to impose a total ban on online rummy that is blamed for several suicides in the state