Banning Online Gambling Easier Said Than Done?

Karnataka will join its southern neighbors in introducing a law banning online gambling and gambling at the upcoming Legislative Assembly starting Monday.

While the law will provide stricter punishment for those who comply with the ban if caught, enforcing such a ban and monitoring the Internet is easier said than done, police officials admit. Another obstacle is limited resources to deal with cybercrime.

A police official in a statement said that the only way to get rid of Online gambling is that Union Government bans all the online gambling sites by preparing a proper list.

However, online gambling is not banned nationwide at the moment.

Telangana was one of the first nations to ban online gambling by law in 2017. Till the present date, the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and now Karnataka have introduced new laws and amendments to ban online gambling only last year.

However, the Madras Supreme Court in August this year overturned amendments made by the Tamil Nadu government to ban online gambling.

The ban of online gambling sites in Karnataka will be most probably challenged by many of the online gambling and poker sites. Unless there is a national policy in place, blocking these sites will be difficult. If not banned, State Government laws will only help to punish and punish gamblers and planners, and not to completely liberate the threat State, a police officer with long experience in combating economic and cybercrime.

India has previously acknowledged the banning of porn websites in the country but we can clearly see the increased use of VPN servers to get access. So enforcing a complete ban on all Internet gambling is almost impossible. The move will be truly quick and result in a huge loss for the users as a pool of money will get blocked.

HC Intervention

Minister of Justice and Parliament J.C. Madhuswamy acknowledged that the State government had decided to ban the petition in the Karnataka High Court, which had been hearing the PIL on the matter by Davangere-based activist D.R. Sharada. Horse racing and lotteries will be canceled, the minister said.

Draft amendments to the definition of gambling to include both offline and online gambling and make utter indulgence, planning, and advertising the same tangible and intangible case. The draft bill defines online games as “inclusive of all forms of betting or betting including the type of cash tokens paid before or after its issuance, or electronic and tangible means, electronic money transfer. ”

The draft bill provides for penalties ranging from one month to five years in prison and a fine ranging from ₹ 25,000 to ₹ 5 lakh.

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