‘Games of skill’: High court scraps TN law that banned online games with stakes

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Tuesday struck down an amendment to the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act that banned online games including online rummy and online poker with stakes, ruling that the amendment first inserted in the law by the previous AIADMK government via an ordinance in November 2020, was “ultra vires” to the constitution.

The bench comprising chief justice Sanjib Banerjee and justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said the state completely failed to meet the “least intrusive” measure test by imposing a wide-ranging blanket ban, and therefore, the amendment falls foul of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution which gives people the right to practise any profession.

The verdict came on a batch of petitions by online gaming companies challenging the blanket ban.