Chennai: Tamil Nadu Law Minister S. Regupathy met Governor RN Ravi at Raj Bhavan in Chennai on Thursday and discussed about the Bill to ban online gambling in the state. He also urged the Governor to soon give assent to the bill.
On Thursday, Law Minister S. Regupathy addressing the reporters said, "A Bill has been brought to ban and regulate online gambling games including rummy and poker in the state. I discussed with the Governor and gave clarification related to the Bill for half an hour. Governor also said that the Bill is still with him for his assent and assured to soon take action on the Bill.”
The Minister said: "Online gambling games should be banned since we have lost 25 lives to gambling in the state. There is a lot of difference between online and offline gambling. In online gambling, certain changes are made to the system to enable only the organizers to win the game."
Meanwhile, parties cutting across the political divide have been demanding the government and other agencies ban online gambling games.
With DMK and AIADMK demanding a complete ban, PMK also on Wednesday demanded Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi to give assent to the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill.
According to IANS, PMK state president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, in a statement, said, "Thirty-two people have died by suicide in Tamil Nadu in the past 15 months, hence a ban on online games is a must to prevent such deaths."
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On Wednesday, DMK slammed Governor Ravi for delaying providing his assent for the bill. In an editorial, Murasoli, criticized Governor for not taking action on the Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill, 2022 since October 28.
Earlier, an ordinance banning online gambling also lapsed in the state. The Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Ordinance lapsed on November 27.