Madras High Court doubts whether law banning online games with stakes will stand the test of law

Judges say it has been poorly drafted and not backed by any data or a study

The Madras High Court on Friday doubted whether the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Act of 2021, aimed at banning games such as rummy and poker played with stakes on the cyberspace, would stand the test of law. It said the law had been drafted very poorly and it appeared that the government had imposed a blanket ban on games of skill too merely on the basis of its sense of morality just before the Assembly elections. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy told Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram that the government had neither conducted any study on the possible ill effects nor was there any empirical data available with the government to take such a decision. They said there also did not appear to have been any elaborate debate that had taken place in the Assembly before the law was passed in February this year. “There’s no doubt that you have the authority to pass a law on the subject. We will also give you the benefit of the presumption that you are doing it for the benefit of the people but that does not mean you can crack the whip beyond acceptable parameters. This Act appears not to take cognisance of a body of jurisprudence that had preceded on the subject. It appears to be jumbled and confused,” the Chief Justice said.