{"id":21062,"date":"2021-08-04T14:20:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T17:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=21062"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:56:19","slug":"india-madras-court-strikes-down-online-gambling-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-madras-court-strikes-down-online-gambling-ban","title":{"rendered":"India: Madras court strikes down online gambling ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Madras High Court has struck down the bill that banned online gambling in Tamil Nadu after a petition brought by online operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

India.- A\u00a0ban over online games of skill<\/strong>\u00a0such as rummy and poker in the state of Tamil Nadu has been\u00a0struck down by the Madras High Court<\/strong>, which ruled it was excessive and disproportionate to the object it sought to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the decision, the High Court stated the legislature could enact new legislation<\/strong>\u00a0to regulate online games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A petition to strike down the ban was lodged by\u00a0online operators<\/strong>,\u00a0who argued: \u201cSince 1968 the Supreme Court has made it clear that\u00a0rummy is a game of skill and not a game of chance.\u00a0<\/strong>Therefore, online rummy cannot be banned.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0government of Tamil Nadu<\/strong> has criticised the High Court decision<\/strong>, saying that people aged 25 to 30 years are losing their earnings by playing online betting games such as rummy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last November, Banwarilal Purohit, the governor of Tamil Nadu, made\u00a0online gaming a punishable offence<\/a>\u00a0with promoters facing up to two years in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February,\u00a0an amendment to the bill<\/a>\u00a0was introduced by deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam confirming punishments of\u00a0up to two years in prison or a fine that would not exceed Rs10,000 (US$ 137.15)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, the\u00a0Kerala High Court<\/strong>\u00a0rejected a petition from\u00a0online gaming companies<\/a>\u00a0to stay an ordinance that makes playing online rummy for stakes a punishable offence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Madras High Court has struck down the bill that banned online gambling in Tamil Nadu after a petition brought by online operators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Madras High Court has invalidated Tamil Nadu's ban on online games of skill, such as rummy and poker, deeming it excessive and disproportionate. This decision, following a petition by online operators, reopens the market for these verticals, though the Court affirmed the legislature's power to enact new, proportionate regulations. The Tamil Nadu government has expressed strong disapproval, citing concerns over player financial losses.","focusai_entities":"Madras High Court, online operators, Supreme Court, government of Tamil Nadu, Banwarilal Purohit, O Panneerselvam, Kerala High Court, online gaming companies","focusai_location":"India, Tamil Nadu, Kerala","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.85), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Future Regulatory Framework?","query":"What specific legislative amendments or new regulatory frameworks is the Tamil Nadu government likely to pursue to address the High Court's concerns regarding proportionality, and what is the anticipated timeline for such enactments?"},{"label":"Operator Market Strategy?","query":"How will incumbent and prospective online operators adjust their B2C licensing strategies, marketing spend, and product offerings to capitalize on the re-opened Tamil Nadu market, while mitigating potential future regulatory shifts?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,158,16334],"tags":[23911,23908],"class_list":["post-21062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-gaming-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21076,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21062\/revisions\/21076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}