TN Assembly clears bill banning online gambling for second time

Chennai, March 23 Tamil Nadu Assembly passed the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online games bill" for the second time on Thursday.

The bill was passed unanimously in the House.

It was cleared again after Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi had returned it on March 8 asking the state government to furnish additional information with certain changes.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, while reintroducing the bill in the Assembly for the second time, said that several people have lost their lives due to online gambling. He said, "I am standing here with a heavy heart. Fourty one people lost their lives due to online gambling in Tamil Nadu."

Some of the people who had committed suicide had left a note behind asking the government to ban online games, Stalin said.

He called upon the legislators to pass the bill unanimously not just with the mind but also with the hearts.

The bill, the chief minister said, would be again resent to the Governor for his consideration.

"We might have differences of opinion in ideologies and politics, but no one with a heart can have a difference of opinion over gambling that kills people," he said, adding that the state government had the right to discipline and protect people residing under its jurisdiction.