The Kerala High Court has directed the state chief secretary and IT secretary to take an “appropriate decision” on the aspect of including online gambling and betting within the purview of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960.
The petitioner. Pauly Vadakkan, a film director, pleaded before the Kerala High Court to declare online betting and gambling, particularly online rummy, unlawful and illegal.
The plea also asks for direction to the Kerala state government to ban these online betting or gambling “of any nature” until an appropriate regulatory regime is established and regulations are framed by the state government. Vadakkan also felt endorsements of online gaming platforms by celebrities such as Virat Kohli and Aju Varghese encouraged “unsuspecting people” to sign up for the games.
In a hearing on February 10, senior government pleader Aravinda Kumar Babu submitted that the Kerala State Police Chief has sent a proposal to the government to include online gambling and online netting under the Kerala Gaming Act. This proposal is pending under the state government’s consideration.
Mr. Babu agreed that online gambling and betting are not included in the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960 and that a law needs to be framed to bring this under the government’s regulatory purview.
The division bench of Justice S.Manikumar and Justice Shaji P.Chaly directed the Kerala Government to take an appropriate decision on the aspect of inclusion of online gambling and online betting within the purview of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960 a legislation which bans gambling/betting within a period of two weeks.
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