After the Tamil Nadu government banned online gaming in the state, the Karnataka government also sought to ban online betting and gambling until an appropriate regulation was established. The ban on online gambling was made following the news of many gamblers committing suicide after losing in their games.
The number of duping gaming sites was also on the high for quite some time. The government had decided not to allow gambling on online sports betting sites unless it could be regulated.
On Tuesday, the Karnataka state government announced that it’d place a proposal to regulate online betting and gambling regulations before the cabinet. The government advocate submitted this proposal before Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum during the hearing of a PIL filed by D R Sharada, a resident of Devenagere.
In response to this proposal to bring online gambling in Karnataka under regulation, the Online Rummy Federation or TORF, a Mumbai-based non-profit organization, extended support by taking voluntary steps to self-regulate and give players the tools to play responsibly. According to TORF, online rummy operators could be facilitated to adopt a common set of standards with a common objective of building a self-regulatory framework for gambling that will lead to more protection of players. It stated that the government had filed the said petition for passing the legislation to harass the members.
Last Year, on November 23, the TORF made an official representation to the Chief Minister of Karnataka for regulating online rummy in the state.
TORF estimated that a license fee-based regulation could earn over Rs 1,000 crores as revenues for the Karnataka government in the next 5 years. This will be in addition to the revenue from the operators who will bring in Rs 100 crore in the coming 5 years to aid players to overcome the psychological distress.
