Gaming federation moves Madras High Court challenging Tamil Nadu ordinance banning online games

Gaming federation moves Madras High Court challenging Tamil Nadu ordinance banning online games

Accuses the government of deliberately classifying rummy and poker

The All-India Gaming Federation has filed a plea before the Madras High Court challenging the ordinance banning all forms of online games by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

At the recent hearing in the matter, the bench of acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy said that it would hear the plea on November 16, along with three other petitions filed on the same issue.

The petitioner claimed that online games, including poker and rummy, required skills and not chance, and thus, should not be banned. The federation challenged the constitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Ordinance, 2022. It also sought interim relief by staying the implementation.

Filed through the federation's general secretary Sunil Krishnamurthy, the plea claimed that only 'games of chance' and not 'games of skill' could be banned in India. It added that the government had wrongly classified rummy and poker. It was deliberate so that such games could be banned through the new ordinance.

The federation claimed it made constant efforts to ensure online gaming was conducted ethically. It pointed out that all its members and online gaming companies were required to follow a charter that mandated the players be warned against the deleterious effects of gaming, including addiction.