The State government will soon enact a law to regulate online betting and gambling, Home Minister Ranjit Patil said. While there are laws to that govern betting and lottery in the real world, the State has no legal provisions for the activity on the internet.
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The minister was speaking in the Legislative Council on Monday, during a debate on an alleged betting racket run by Game King India Private Limited, whose owner Ramesh Chaurasia was arrested from Mumbai by the Indore Police. “We are awaiting a report by the Indian CERT (computer emergency response team). But we will meanwhile enact a law to regulate online betting,” Mr. Patil said.
The Opposition has alleged that Mr. Chaurasia had set up 500 illegal gambling parlours in Mumbai alone. The mastermind of the ₹5,000-crore racket, who ran his business in seven States and 15 countries, had the support of the Mumbai Police, claimed leader of the Opposition Dhananjay Munde. “What is stopping the Mumbai Police from shutting down this site? What is stopping them from arresting Mr. Chaurasia?” Mr Munde said.
The government said Mr. Chaurasia was operating the parlours under the garb of video game parlours, for which he had obtained permissions from the local body. The Indore Police had announced a bounty of ₹20,000 on him. “Seven cases have been registered against him by our police. Once the CERT report is in, we will shut this website and arrest him at the earliest,” Mr. Patil said. “The Indore Police took one-and-a-half year to arrest him, but we will not take that long.”
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