Bill banning online gambling tabled in Karnataka Assembly
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The Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Friday tabled a bill to ban online gambling and betting in Karnataka with provisions of heavy penalties for offenders.
The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was tabled in the lower house of the state legislature in the ongoing monsoon session.
By tabling the bill, the government proposed to amend the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 that defined games which included online that had any forms of wagering or betting.
According to the bill, “Games means and includes online games, involving all forms of wagering or betting, including in the form of tokens valued in terms of the money paid before or after the issue of it, or electronic means and virtual currency, electronic transfer of funds in connection with any game of chance.”
The government also made a provision to punish offenders with a maximum imprisonment of three years or a fine of up to ₹1 lakh.
The bill, however, does not include betting in turf clubs or other races.
The bill, which makes certain offences related to wagering and gambling a cognizable offence, includes use of cyberspace, computer resources or any communication device as defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the process of gaming.
The tabling of the bill comes at a time when there has been a sharp spike in online betting games being floated into the virtual space which, by disclaimers made by the promoter companies themselves, can be addictive.
The bill stated that offences will attract prison sentences ranging between six months to three years and fines from ₹10,000- ₹20,000 depending on frequency of the violation. Those aiding and abetting online gaming would also be brought to book, the amendment states.
On Friday, the lower house passed three bills, including the Identification of Prisoners (Karnataka Amendment) Bill that seeks to include collection of blood, DNA, voice and iris scan samples as “measurements” of offenders for effective surveillance and prevention of breach of peace and crime.
There are apprehensions on the provisions of this bill as it makes anyone, who has been sentenced in a crime for one month and upwards, to be forced to give their samples which will become part of the database.
Experts have voiced their concerns over such a bill over privacy issues as well as questioned if the necessary infrastructure was in place to collect, store and analyze such complicated procedures.
Priyank Kharge, a Congress MLA and former minister, also raised her concerns over right to privacy and availability of necessary infrastructure to collect, store and analyze the collected samples.
