With the motive of restricting the grounds of betting and online gambling, Tamil Nadu has adopted a new ordinance to ban virtual gambling in the state and the development has come weeks after the state had witnessed suicides that directly connected to such gamblings where the victims were pushed to endure deep financial distress as the sequel of losing more money. 

The ordinance was promulgated by Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Friday after which Tamil Nadu has become the second south Indian state to ban online gambling after Andhra Pradesh. Apart from the ban, the ordinance has come up with the warrant of penalizing and imprisoning people who are detained under the grounds of carrying out betting and online gambling. 

In its press release, the government said that the ordinance has been passed because the young and innocent people are getting cheated of which some had committed suicide. The reports say the ordinance has banned wagering or betting in cyberspace using computers or any communication device. 

After passing the proposal, the state government and sent it to the Governor and the ordinance amends the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930, Tamil Nadu District Police Act 1859, and, Chennai City Police Act 1888. As per the ordinance, people who are found to be betting or gambling online will be punished with a fine of Rs 5,000 and imprisonment for six months. 

Along with this punishment, the ordinance imposes a fine of Rs 10,000 and two years imprisonment for those who operate a common gaming house, and the ordinance will also be banning the electronic transfer of funds that are used for betting and wagering, distributing the prize money and the ordinance will also warrant punishment for those who run companies that are connected with betting or wagering and online gambling. 

After Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu has become the second Indian state to pass the ordinance banning online gambling and it has come weeks after the state had recorded suicides and the victims were young people, who had lost their savings through gambling. With such incidents continued, the political parties in the state had demanded the state government to ban online gambling following which the government has now passed the ordinance to crackdown betting and gambling. 

As Tamil Nadu has passed the ordinance, Karnataka has strongly been mulling to adopt such an ordinance to ban online gambling and gaming sites in the state. On Friday, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that online games are spoiling many lives in the state and many gambling and betting websites have emerged during the lockdown and the government is in need to ban such malicious sites.