Ordinance against online card games expected soon: Tamil Nadu Govt

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced that an ordinance would soon be promulgated to take on online rummy and constituted a committee led by a retired judge to look into the matter and make recommendations to the state within 2 weeks.

Pointing to continuing incidents of some people ending their lives after losing money in card game 'rummy,' played online, Chief Minister M K Stalin has ordered setting up a panel headed by Justice K Chandru, retired judge of the Madras High Court, an official release here said.

By collating data, the committee would look into aspects including financial losses caused by online rummy and consequent huge risk factors like suicidal tendencies. Also, it would study the societal impact of advertisements promoting the card game and evaluate its overall impact.

Based on the panel's report, "an ordinance will be promulgated soon to find an immediate solution to this social problem." This would serve as a model law for other state governments to follow, the release said.

The committee would submit its report, making recommendations to the government within 2 weeks. Technology expert Sankararaman (IIT), Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, (Psychiatrist and founder of NGO, Sneha), Additional Director General of Police, Vinit Dev Wankhede are the other members of the panel.

In 2021, the Tamil Nadu government had enacted a legislation banning online rummy. Subsequently, the Madras High Court had set aside that law. The court, among other aspects, had said that the law lacked scientific data. On November 13, 2021, the state government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court verdict. The plea is yet to come up for hearing. Similar laws passed by states including Karnataka had been struck down by the High Courts of the respective states.