Veteran Malayalam actor-director Lal said he would no longer act in rummy advertisements. The actor said he acted in rummy advertisements due to financial issues during the Covid19 lockdown. He added that he did not think that online rummy would lead to such huge problems and suicides.

Lal stated that when he was approached to act in the advertisement, he thought twice and when he heard that rummy is legal, he acted. He said he would not put his head in such advertisements again.

The other day, MLA KB Ganesh Kumar in the Kerala assembly had criticized the stars acting in the online rummy advertisement. He had demanded that the government should request the celebrities acting in the advertisements to withdraw from it.

“While famous personalities such as Shah Rukh Khan and Virat Kohli have lent their star power for boosting the business of such emerging apps, we have been witnessing some artistes such Vijay Yesudas and Rimi Tomy follow suit without realising the detrimental effects such platforms have had on families,” said Mr. Ganesh Kumar.

Minister Vasavan responding to Ganesh Kumar highlighted the government’s inability to rein in such practices through legal means. “We can only seek their support towards our efforts to sensitise the public against such applications. Change can happen only when a cultural revolution takes place in the minds of such influential personalities,” he said.

Nearly a year after the Kerala High Court set aside a state government notification prohibiting online rummy games, the Kerala government is contemplating an amendment to the gambling act to impose a total ban on online rummy that is blamed for several suicides.

Neighboring Tamil Nadu has recently constituted a committee which recommended a ban on online rummy. It was reported that the Tamil Nadu cabinet was unanimous on banning online rummy. Currently, the decisions by Karnataka and Madras High Courts quashing online gaming ban laws are under challenge before the Supreme Court.