R Sarathkumar, an actor and the leader of the All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi, stated on Tuesday that only intelligent people can play rummy while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) administration in Tamil Nadu waits for Governor R N Ravi’s approval to the Gaming Ban Bill.

Sarathkumar has been facing criticism for appearing in advertisements for an online rummy company. He spoke on the topic during a one-day hunger strike demanding that alcohol be banned and that people be made aware of the dangers of drug use.

“Rummy is an intelligent game. I am not saying this just because I acted in those advertisements. You need intelligence to play rummy. If someone does not want to get into something, he will never do that. People do not play just because I acted in an advertisement. Have they voted for me because I asked them?,” asked Sarathkumar.

He claimed that it is useless to ask him to quit appearing in commercials, because the government should take action to prohibit online rummy. The modern world, he continued, is all digital, and gambling, even sports, is pervasive in all aspects of life.

He further claimed that some of the suicides committed due to family disputes have also been attributed to have been caused by online rummy debts.

Sarathkumar also asserted that the commercials airing currently were shot two years ago. He also said he would not have appeared in the advertisements if the government had outlawed them at the time.

The advertisements were done for Junglee Rummy and the filming for those advertisements was done almost two years ago according to Sarathkumar. He intended to say that people criticizing him do not know about this and have only watched the commercial recently.