Madhya Pradesh to postpone online gambling debate until April

The second-biggest state in India has requested for more time to discuss whether to legalise online gambling or declare it illegal.

India.- The state government of Madhya Pradesh has said it needs more time to debate the matter of online gambling after a request for its views from the state’s high court.

The state government will take until the first week of April to respond to the court on whether it believes online gambling should be permitted or not.

A similar process is taking place in the state of Kerala, which is discussing whether to include online gambling and betting within the purview of the Kerala Gaming Act.

The debate takes place in the context of rapid growth in India’s online gambling market since the start of Covid-19 lockdown measures in India last year.

The states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have already banned online gambling and imposed criminal punishments.

While the Madhya Pradesh government has yet to make a decision, it’s believed that it may choose to follow the route taken by the state of Karnataka, which decided to look into the legalisation and regulation of online gambling.