The State government on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that the government had proposed to remove the exemption given to online rummy game by issuing a notification under the provisions of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960.
The submission was made by government pleader Aravid Babu when a petition seeking to ban the online games came up for hearing.
The government submitted that the State Police Chief had already given a proposal to bring online rummy playing under the provisions of the gaming law. In fact, the proposal had been forwarded to the Law Department for vetting, he submitted.
According to petitioner Pauly Vadakkan of Thrissur, gambling through online platforms had now become a growing menace in the State. People were being lured into online gaming with the endorsement made by celebrities such as cricketer Virat Kohli and other celebrities.
In fact, several people had lost their lives in the country after losing huge amounts of money by playing the online games. It was pointed out that a 28-year-old man from Kattakkada in Thiruvananthapuram district had allegedly committed suicide reportedly after the online games landed him in debt trap.
The petitioner, therefore, sought a directive to ban all forms of online gambling and online betting till an appropriate regulatory regime was put in place and regulations were framed.
