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Tamil Nadu bans online gaming, with fine up to Rs 5,000 and imprisonment of up to six months

Rs. 5000 fine and and six months imprisonment for those found gaming, two years jail and Rs.10,000 fine for people who operate common gaming house.

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Tamil Nadu government on Friday banned online gaming in the state with a fine up to Rs 5,000 and imprisonment of up to six months. Governor Banwarilal Purohit promulgated an ordinance that banned online gaming in the state.

In the ordinance banning the game, the Governor said that due to online gaming, innocent people, mainly youngsters, are being cheated, and some people have committed suicide.

He further stated, 'the state has thus decided to ban online gaming to avoid such incidents of suicide and protect the innocent people from the evils of online gaming.'.

This comes weeks after the state government informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that it was actively considering banning online games.

According to the official press release this step has been taken after suicides by people who allegedly lost money in online games especially youngsters. Any violation of this ordinance would attract both fine and imprisonment.

Other provisions of the ordinance include punishing those found 'gaming' with Rs. 5,000 fine and and six months imprisonment, two years jail and Rs.10,000 fine for people who operate common gaming houses.

Palaniswami had recently said the government was taking steps to ban online games following demands from several quarters and complaints about suicides of people who lost money in such activities in the state.

The ordinance further goes on to ban 'electronic transfer of funds' used for wagering or betting, distribute the winnings, prize money'. Andhra Pradesh has also recently banned online gaming. 

Union Territory of Puducherry has also written to the Centre seeking a similar action on such activities after the recent suicide of three people in Coimbatore this month after suffering a heavy financial loss in the online rummy game.

While gambling and betting is banned across the country, nearly ten states in India namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim and West Bengal have their lottery systems.

These lotteries have very strict controls over the number of tickets printed and the prize money distributed.

While there has been some debate on whether online games are a matter of pure luck or skill, the arrival of money has further complicated matters. Most adversaries of online games and gambling have said that since there are no regulations, most players end up spending a lot of money for buy-in, in these games.

Critics have also said that since these games are also played by kids of all ages, the lack of money to buy these add-on puts different kinds of peer pressure leading to unpleasant circumstances.

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