“We don’t see any other way out except banning. Tamil Nadu will follow its own legislation,” commented retired justice K Chandru when the southern state implemented its second prohibition of online games just days after the central government notified amendments to the IT Rules aimed at regulating online gaming in the whole country.
“These rules do not change Tamil Nadu’s stance on online gaming,” the former Madras high court justice emphasised.
K Chandru is now chairing Tamil Nadu’s online gaming panel, a state whose so-called “stance on online gaming” sounds more like a commandment than a piece of modern-day legislation.
Previously, Chandru served as head of the committee which used two weeks of last summer to come up with the state government’s motivations for the online gaming ban.
These motivations are full of statistically unsound assumptions, as well as total mistrust and denial of modern technology like random number generation.
Nevertheless, they are elaborated at length in the beginning of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill.
What can we expect now?
It remains to be seen if online gaming in Tamil Nadu will be brought to an abrupt and definitive end, as the stated intentions of former justice Chandru and the state government go.
In the meantime, we can prepare to witness the imminent legal wars, the occurrence of which is far more certain than any positive effects of the gaming ban, as a recent opinion article by SevenJackpots suggests.
The editorial piece points to one of the representations, received by the Tamil Nadu government and former justice K Chandru’s committee, which described the unintentional, but ill effects of strict legislations like gaming bans: a rise of underground gambling and usury.
Naturally, the report was not included in the act’s motivations.
This is hardly the effect TN authorities have been seeking for
SevenJackpots have also provided an insight into their internal data, showing that in Q3 2021 Tamil Nadu generated 5.10% of Indian online traffic to internationally licensed casinos, and by Q1 2023 this share had increased to 7.63%, never dropping a notch.
This is doubtfully the effect that TN authorities have been seeking for, but who knows – we might be on the verge of a miracle that would make gambling related problems and personal tragedies disappear suddenly and profoundly.
When you think about it, that miracle should have already happened, as the gaming ban was notified on April 10 and is now in force.
Modern day miracles are created by science
In 2019, problem gambling in Great Britain was measured at 0.6% by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The following year, problem gambling rate dropped to 0.3%, and then stabilised at 0.2% for 2021 and 2022, the SevenJackpots writers point out.
Regardless of whether we take this for a miracle or not, these are the results of regulation and a scientific approach to responsible gaming. And also, the fruits of lots of research which takes years, and not mere weeks.
The British example shows that building a safe gambling environment is an endless process, and not a single act. This remains valid even if this act is a piece of legislation which says that the whole problem is being hereby prohibited.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by the author are their own.
