Maharashtra to bring law against online gambling

The Maharashtra government is to curb the menace of online gambling and beওtting, as per a statement given by Minister of State for Home Dr. Ranjit Patil in the legislative council yesterday.

Patil made the remarks while responding to a debate in the legislative co🐈uncil on the alleged run by Game King India Private Limited and its founder R𒉰amesh Chaurasia.

Opposition leader Dhananjay Munde alleged that Chaurasia has set up 500 illeg𝔉al gambling parlours in Mumbai and is the mastermind of a Rs. 5,000 crore illegal gambling business,⛎ which has operations in seven states and 15 countries.

Patil on the other hand stated that Chaurasia was operating the parlours under the garb of video game parlours, for which he had obtained permissions from releva🐼nt local authorities.

“Seven cas🍌es have been registered against him by our police. Once♎ the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) report is in, we will shut this website and arrest him at the earliest,” Patil said. “The Indore Police took one-and-a-half year to arrest him, but we will not take that long.”

The contours of the new legislation and the timelines for introduction of a Bill on the issue have not been specified by the state government. It is not immediately clear if the state government will follow through on its assurance to 🅷the legislature an𒁏d start the process of drafting a new law.

It also remains to be seen w🐓hether the new law that is set to ꦓbe drafted by the state government would exempt games of skill like online rummy and poker from its ambit or , would ban all games of skill played for stakes.