A protest was held on Wednesday in Chennai by IJK Party demanding a ban on online rummy and other real money games.
The demonstration was led by Ravi Pachamuthu, a leader of IJK Party and the current chairman of SRM Educational Institutions.
“Many people today are forced to commit suicide by playing online rummy. In particular, young people from middle-class families play rummy on credit in the hope of making money. Eventually, they fall into the debt trap and commit suicide. Thus families are also affected. Therefore, the union and state governments should ban online rummy,” Ravi said according to local media reports.
Action to be taken on online rummy will be deliberated by the state cabinet on June 27. The Committee formed to recommend a strong law for banning online rummy headed by retired Justice K Chandru is expected to submit its report by June 25. The Committee which was announced on June 10 is mandated to submit the report within 2 weeks.
The members of the committee include a technical expert from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), Sankararaman, Lakshmi Vijayakumar, psychiatrist, and founder of Sneha, an NGO involved in the prevention of suicide, and ADGP Vinit Dev Wankhede.
The decision to form the panel was taken following a spate of suicides across the State by victims who lost money to online gambling.
