The Madras High Court, on Thursday, November 9, upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act 2022. However, the court has ruled that the Act would not be applicable to games of skill - like rummy and poker - and only be applicable to games of chance. A bench of Chief Justice of Madras High Court SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu pronounced the judgement on a batch of petitions filed by the All India Gaming Federation and other online gaming companies challenging the Act.
The court observed that while the Act cannot be set aside in entirety, the provisions of the act will be applicable only to games of chance and not games of skill like rummy and poker. The court also observed that the government can regulate these games by laying down certain rules like setting age-limits, putting a restriction on the time spent on gaming, but cannot ban them completely.
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The Act came into force on April 21 this year, which had provisions to punish anybody providing ‘online gambling service’ or ‘online game of chance’, as well as anybody playing such games. The government also set up a five-member Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority in August to regulate online games, as well as provide registration certificates to local online game providers. In July, the petition seeking to quash the Act as being unconstitutional and violative of their fundamental rights was filed at the HC.