Karnataka is set to follow the footsteps of the neighbouring state Tamil Nadu in banning online gambling websites. The state’s home minister Basavaraja Bommai has said Karnataka will soon ban the online games as people are losing their hard-earned money due to the addiction. He added the government has received many complaints from the parents and others about the online games which made the state to seriously think about banning online gaming, sort of gambling.
“Students, kids, boys, girls are involving themselves very much and even elders as well spending a lot of money to play online games, which has become a sort of gambling,” Bommai told a news agency. He added,“Through online games, many families are losing their income and that’s why the state government is seriously thinking about banning online games". About the directives, Home minister told suggestions from other states which have already banned online gaming will be received and a meeting with the senior officials and related departments suggestions from other states which have already banned them and a meeting will be held to take their suggestions about the ban.
Another neighbour, Andhra Pradesh government has requested IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to order internet service providers (ISPs) to block 132 websites which are engaged in online real money gaming. A Supreme Court judgements in 1960 have held that games like poker and rummy have a dominant element of ‘skill’, are skill-based card games. They are exempted from the anti-gambling regulations even when played for money. But different states have different frames of law regarding gambling.
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