TN Gov Assents to Law Banning Online Gambling and Games of Chance
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After a very long wait for the state government, Tamil Nadu's Governor R.N. Ravi finally granted his assent to the state's law banning online gambling and games of chance yesterday, The Hindu reported. Ravi's stamp of approval came after the state assembly passed a resolution against him earlier in the day. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said that the law will be published in the Tamil Nadu gazette the same day. A digital version remains publicly unavailable at the time of publishing this report. Through this law, the Tamil Nadu government may be banning games that it doesn't have the power to regulate over. Remember: states can only make laws on gambling, or games of chance. However, the October version of Tamil Nadu's law banned games held to be non-gambling games, or games of skill—which states can't regulate. Unsurprisingly, industry associations for skill-based gaming companies are already considering challenging the law in court. Despite this, and the Indian government's attempts to regulate skill-based games, Tamil Nadu seems to be clear that banning these online "gambling" games is the only worthwhile regulatory solution. The bottom line: India's courts may soon (once again) witness a number of online gaming-related battles between gaming companies and the state government. Why it matters: When it was first passed last October in the wake of rising gambling-related suicides in the state, the Bill had "expired" by November since Governor Ravi had "delayed" assenting to it. In the months that followed, Tamil Nadu politicians and Ministers of Parliament repeatedly…
