Tamil Nadu’s Ordinance Banning Online Gambling Lapses
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The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed an ordinance prohibiting online gambling and regulating online gaming earlier this year, following which the state’s Governor R N Ravi gave his assent to the same on 1st October. The State Assembly then tabled the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gaming and Regulation of Online Games Bill to ban online gambling and regulate online gaming. However, the tabled bill is pending approval from the governor and the ordinance lapsed on the intervening night of 27th November and 28th November.
Notably, R N Ravi sought some clarifications and forced the State Government to defend the Bill. The State Government noted that it clarified the governor’s queries within 24 hours.
Why has the Ordinance lapsed?
The Tamil Nadu government got the assent for the ordinance banning online gambling on 1st October. The Assembly session began on 17th October and thus 27th November marked the end of a six-week period.
According to , the ordinance would cease to operate after a lapse of six weeks from the date of commencement of the last assembly session.
Governor sought clarifications
On 25th November, Tamil Nadu’s Law Minister S Regupathy reportedly stated that all the queries raised by the governor were clarified within 24 hours of receiving the letter.
The minister said that the governor raised based on the Madras High Court order that struck down the previous law banning online gambling in 2021. According to Regupathy, the governor noted the following:
The bill failed to factor in the observations made by the High Court
The bill does not differentiate between a game of chance and a game of skill, which goes against Article 19 (1) (g) of the Indian Constitution.
The ban can only be proportional and not a blanket one.
The law minister said that the State clarified that the bill distinguished between a game of chance and a game of skill and that the law seeks to ban only online gambling and does not impose a total ban.
The governor also cited the HC order that said skill-based games are not covered under ‘Betting and Gambling’ in the state list under the seventh schedule of the constitution. In response, the Tamil Nadu government argued that the entry ‘Betting and Gambling’ does cover online gambling and that the chances of a person getting cheated are high. It added that the bill is in conformity with the Constitution as it deals with matters involving betting and gambling, public order, public health, and theaters and dramatic performances which are part of the state list under the seventh schedule.
After the ordinance banning online gambling and regulating online gaming lapsed, Regupathy stated that only the Governor knows the reason for not giving assent. The law minister stated that the Tamil Nadu government will implement the law if it eventually gets the assent from the Governor. “Otherwise, there are several laws that are already in place and we will take action [against online gambling platforms] under them,” he added.
