{"id":34402,"date":"2022-10-13T10:06:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=34402"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:58:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:58:36","slug":"meghalaya-to-repeal-regulation-of-gaming-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/meghalaya-to-repeal-regulation-of-gaming-act","title":{"rendered":"Meghalaya to repeal Regulation of Gaming Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act was introduced last year to regulate casinos and other gambling venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India.- Due to the pressure from the church and anti-casino groups, the Meghalaya government has decided to scrap its&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/three-firms-get-temporary-licences-to-operate-casinos-in-meghalaya\" target=\"_blank\">Regulation of Gaming Act<\/a>. The legislation as introduced last year to allow casinos in a bid to boost the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a social media post, taxation minister&nbsp;<strong>James PK Sangma <\/strong>said: &#8220;Following meetings with stakeholders, it became clear to me it is in the best interest of our State to completely scrap the Act. Therefore, it will be my earnest endeavour to see that the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021, will be appealed.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minister&nbsp;<strong>James P K Sangma <\/strong>had previously defended the decision to allow casinos,<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>arguing it could boost the economy and generate new jobs. However, the Khasi Jaintia Church Leaders Forum (KJCLF) held a prayer meeting against the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">With the aim of boosting revenue, tourism &amp; employment, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021, was introduced under my guidance, to legalise and regulate gaming. Introducing casinos \u2014 meant for tourists only \u2014 was considered too.<\/p>&mdash; James K Sangma (@JamesSangma1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesSangma1\/status\/1580437795583447047?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 13, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The minister met with representatives from religious bodies, non-governmental organisations, civil society, Dorbar Shnongs, autonomous and local government bodies, and youth organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sangma said: &#8220;During this process, I tried to understand the concerns of the public and the impact that the Act could have further on.&nbsp;Following such meetings and deliberations, it became clear to me that it is in the best interest of our state to completely scrap the Act, given that <strong>there could be untoward implications<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April, the state of Meghalaya had been deemed&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/meghalaya-found-to-be-most-gambling-friendly-state-in-india\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the most gambling-friendly state in India<\/a>&nbsp;according to the UK Indian Business Council (UKIBC) Gaming Industry Index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study measured each state\u2019s attitude to gambling and betting based on seven verticals (lottery, horse racing, sports betting, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports).&nbsp;<strong>Meghalaya has a score of 92.85&nbsp;<\/strong>on a scale of 0 to 100, 100 being fully legal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act was introduced last year to regulate casinos and other gambling venues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":34643,"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 Meghalaya government has decided to repeal its Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021, which aimed to legalize and regulate gaming, including casinos, to stimulate the state's economy. This reversal follows significant pressure from religious and anti-casino groups, despite earlier governmental defense of the legislation's economic benefits. The decision underscores the complex interplay between economic development objectives and socio-cultural opposition in emerging iGaming jurisdictions.","focusai_entities":"James PK Sangma, Khasi Jaintia Church Leaders Forum, KJCLF, UK Indian Business Council, UKIBC, Meghalaya government","focusai_location":"India, Meghalaya","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (1.0), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Indian States?","query":"What are the broader implications of Meghalaya's regulatory reversal for other Indian states currently exploring or implementing gaming liberalization frameworks?"},{"label":"Investor Confidence Shift?","query":"How will this legislative repeal affect investor sentiment and capital allocation strategies for iGaming ventures within the broader Indian market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[229,23911],"class_list":["post-34402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402","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=34402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34424,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402\/revisions\/34424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}