Online Games Like Poker & Rummy Banned by Andhra Pradesh Government, Jail Term For Offenders

September 3 was a sad day for online gaming in Andhra Pradesh as the state government announced a ban on online games like rummy and poker, claiming that these real money games were pushing the youth on a wrong path. The state cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to ban all forms of online gambling, Information Minister Perni Venkataramaiah said. The cabinet also approved the amendments to be incorporated into the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act – 1974.

The state government has made it clear that it will be giving no leeway to the gaming industry by including criminal provisions for the offenders. The new rules state that those organizing such online games will get one-year imprisonment, and those playing will be jailed for six months. Repeat offenders will be given two years of jail term.

Briefing reporters at the end of the cabinet meeting, the Minister said online gambling has become a vice that was damaging the youth by ‘misleading’ them.

“So, we have decided to ban all such online gambling to protect the youth,” Venkataramaiah said.

This major crackdown on online gaming comes nearly three years after the state’s legislative council of Telangana ratified and passed the Telangana Gaming (Amendment) Bill, 2017, banning online gaming and games of skill like rummy, poker, etc.

Besides Telengana, the states of Orissa, Assam, and Kerala have also prohibited online gaming, while the issue regarding the legality of online poker is sub judice in Gujarat.

While the fact that online gaming is banned in these states may seem devastating for the future of the industry in the country, there are still a few states where the industry is thriving.

Nagaland has enforced the Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion & Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act and Rules, 2016, aka Nagaland Act, under which the government has issued online skill game licenses to several online operators.

Online gambling that includes online poker, is legal in Sikkim under the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Rules 2009.

Under the West Bengal Gambling and Prize Competitions Act, 1957, section 2 (1) (b), games like poker, rummy, bridge, and nap are excluded from the ambit of gambling.