Tamil Nadu online gambling law: Madras High Court declines interim injunction

The Madras High Court declined to temporarily suspend the ‘Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022’ on Thursday. The law prohibits online games such as poker and rummy.

The plea made by online gaming companies was postponed for further hearing until after the court vacation on 2 June, by a division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice A Raja. The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), along with Gameskraft, Games24x7, and Head Digital Works, which are real-money gaming firms, have filed a petition in the Madras High Court.

They have challenged the constitutional validity of the online gambling law of the Tamil Nadu government, which took effect on 21 April.

During the hearing, Senior counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Aryama Sundaram represented the online gaming companies and gaming federation, respectively. On the other hand, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Tamil Nadu.

The new law could reportedly lead to a conflict with the federal government on the issue of regulating the growing skill-based gaming sector in India. On 6 April, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) announced amendments to the IT Act 2021 related to gaming. These amendments will enable several self-regulatory organizations (SROs) to decide whether a real-money game involving the transfer of funds can function in India or not.

Earlier this month, the Tamil Nadu government prohibited online rummy and poker in the state, categorising them as games of chance in the law, and placing them within the scope of online gambling. Gambling falls under the jurisdiction of individual states in India. According to Moneycontrol, a number of online platforms for rummy and poker, such as A23, Classic Rummy, RummyCircle, and PokerBaazi, have prohibited users from playing paid contests in Tamil Nadu.

In addition to Tamil Nadu, several states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala have either banned or attempted to ban skill-based games or real-money games.

Meanwhile, on 14 April, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that internet cannot be regulated by the states. According to him, it is meaningless for a state government to attempt to regulate sectors such as online gaming.

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