[231]

IV-2 Ex. (472)

[Regd. No. TN/CCN/467/2012-14.

GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

[R. Dis. No. 197/2009.

2022

[Price: Rs. 5.60 Paise.

TAMIL NADU

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 472]

CHENNAI, MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2022

Purattasi 16, Subakiruthu, Thiruvalluvar Aandu–2053

Part IV—Section 2

Tamil Nadu Acts and Ordinances

The following Ordinance which was promulgated by the Governor on

the 1st October 2022 is hereby published for general information:—

TAMIL NADU ORDINANCE NO. 4 OF 2022.

An Ordinance to prohibit Online gambling and to regulate

Online games in the State of Tamil Nadu.

WHEREAS during the recent years online gaming addiction has led

many persons to incur unsustainable debt resulting in suicides;

AND WHEREAS addiction to online games have caused ﬁ nancial

distress and ruined many families;

AND WHEREAS gaming disorder, predominantly online, has been

recognized and included by the World Health Organisation (WHO),

in its International Classiﬁ cation of Diseases (11th Revision), which is

characterised by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour

and is, manifested by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority

given to gaming over other activities and continuation of gaming despite

the occurrence of negative consequences in personal, family, social,

educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning;

Tamil Nadu Act

1 of 2021.

AND WHEREAS the Hon’ble High Court of Madras by Common

Order dated 03.08.2021 in W.P. No.18022 of 2020, etc, struck down

Part II of the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment)

Act 2021, which banned wagering or betting in cyber space, as

ultra vires the Constitution, with liberty to bring in an appropriate legislation

conforming to the constitutional sense of propriety in the ﬁ eld of betting and

gambling by the State;

AND WHEREAS the Government constituted a Five Member

Committee

under

the

Chairmanship

retired

Hon’ble

Justice

Thiru K. Chandru to advise on enacting a fresh legislation on online games;

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

AND WHEREAS the Committee in its report, taking into account

the parameters of physical space of operation, time of playing, players’

relationship with other players, addiction level, amount of money involved,

level of economic activity, scale of organisers’ proﬁ t and role of credit, has

observed that online version of any game cannot be compared with the

oﬄ ine version of the game, except in cases of word games or board games

not involving any random outcome generator;

AND WHEREAS the said report further states that in the case of online

version of games including online rummy, the algorithm for the random

generators are known to the developers and hence are pseudo random

generators; such games can be played with bots (an autonomous program

or character designed to interact with systems or users); no mechanism

is available for auditing the centralised server architecture of the gaming

systems; and artiﬁ cial intelligence can be used to manipulate the games

and lure the players into continued indulgence;

AND WHEREAS the said report classiﬁ es the online games, into two

types, namely, one which have minimal or negligible randomness factor

and another having random event or count generators which are pseudo

random and are addictively designed and accordingly recommends to

regulate the former and to ban the latter;

AND WHEREAS in a recent survey conducted by the Government

among more than two lakh teachers of the School Education department,

to study the eﬀ ects of online games on school students, more than seventy

four per cent. of the teachers responded that concentration of students is

impacted, sixty seven per cent. of the respondents said that they noticed

eye defects, more than seventy four per cent. of them said they noticed

decrease in intelligent quotient, writing skills and creativity of students,

more than seventy six per cent. said they have noticed signiﬁ cant decrease

in self esteem of students, more than seventy seven per cent. said they

have noticed increase of anger in students and more than seventy two per

cent. said they have noticed indiscipline among students;

AND WHEREAS the Government, on seeking the view of the general

public on the proposed legislation, more than ninety nine per cent. that is,

10,708 out of the total 10,735 mails received, have requested for imposing

a total ban on online games;

AND

WHEREAS

seventeen

stakeholders

comprising

representatives from the online gaming industry, think tanks, political parties,

players association and social activists, who were provided an opportunity

to express their views in person, have put forth various suggestions and

requests to the Government, such as, to allow self regulation by the industry

themselves, regulation by the Government, to diﬀ erentiate real money

games and other forms of games, to provide age and money restrictions,

to ban advertisements, to prevent money laundering, to provide grievance

redressal mechanism and to provide a total ban on online games;

AND WHEREAS it is considered that the issues of online gaming

and gambling cannot be dealt with by the old binary of game of chance

versus game of skill and a new conceptual framework is needed which

incorporates understanding of how information technology operates at

basic level, the critical diﬀ erence between physical and online in general

and also between physical and online versions of games;

AND WHEREAS it is an established scientiﬁ c fact that true random

outcome is not feasible in a software and any randomness will depend

upon the speciﬁ c algorithm written by the developer and that audit of the

algorithm makes it diﬃ cult to detect any hidden algorithm designed to

favour the game provider and that overlay of artiﬁ cial intelligence in the

online gaming can make the gaming scenario completely unfair to the

game player/customer, with the game service provider / facilitator literally

being able to hold all the cards; and that no scientiﬁ cally validated algorithm

for testing of even pseudo randomness is available at present;

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

AND WHEREAS due to the inherent addictiveness by design of

the online games and the money being put in by the game players, the

complete gaming scenario amounts to an exploitative, addictive service,

causing not only health hazards but also social and economic harm of

epidemic proportions;

AND WHEREAS many research studies on the eﬀ ects of online

gambling and online gaming addiction on youth, have highlighted

negative eﬀ ects such as development of aggressive behaviour, poor eye

sight, reduced concentration, diminished analytical thinking, decreased

productivity and hence should be viewed as a potent vice that would aﬀ ect

the long term prospects of the State and its population;

AND WHEREAS the ruining of families and suicide deaths due to

online gaming addiction aﬀ ects public health, disturbs social order and

prejudices the maintenance of public order;

AND WHEREAS the Government, after careful consideration of the

report of the said Committee, the ﬁ ndings of the survey among school

teachers, research studies on the subject, and the views of the stakeholders

and the general public, have decided to enact a law to prohibit online

gambling and to regulate online games in the State;

AND WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly of the State is not in

session and the Governor of Tamil Nadu is satisﬁ ed that circumstances

exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action for the

purposes hereinafter appearing;

NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by

clause (1) of Article 213 of the Constitution, the Governor hereby

promulgates the following Ordinance:-

CHAPTER-I.

PRELIMINARY.

1. (1) This Ordinance may be called the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of

Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Ordinance, 2022.

Short title and

commencement.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may,

by notiﬁ cation, appoint.

2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires,-

Deﬁ nitions.

(a) “Appellate Authority” means the Appellate Authority established

by the Government under section 13;

(b) “appointed day” means the date appointed under sub-section (2)

of section 1;

established under section 3;

(d) “geo-blocking” means restricting users from accessing online

content, online applications or online services, based on the user’s

geographical location;

(e) “Government” means the State Government;

(f) “local online games provider” means an online games provider,—

(i) whose central management and control of the service is in

this State; or

(ii) whose service that is available for access by the customers,

is hosted in this State;

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

(g) “Non-local online games provider’’ means any online games

service provider who is not a local online games provider;

(h) “other stakes” means anything recognised as equivalent to money

and includes virtual credits, virtual coins, virtual tokens, virtual objects or

any similar thing that is purchased within, or as part of, or in relation to, an

online game;

(i) “online gambling” means online wagering or betting and includes

playing of any online game of chance for money or other stakes, in any

manner.

Explanation.— For the purpose of this clause, wagering or betting

shall be deemed to comprise the collection or soliciting of bets, the receipt

or distribution of winnings or prizes, in money or otherwise, in respect of

any wager or bet, or any act which is intended to aid or facilitate wagering

or betting or such collection, soliciting, receipt, or distribution;

(j) “online gambling service” means a service, for online wagering or

betting or for any online game of chance and the customer of the service

gives or agrees to give money or put up any other stake for the purpose;

(k) “online game” means any game, whether or not there are other

participants in the game, that is played on an electronic or a digital device

and is managed and operated as a software through the internet or any

other kind of electronic or other technology for facilitating communication;

(l) “online game of chance” includes any online game which,—

(i) involves both an element of chance and an element of skill

and the element of chance dominates over the element of skill; or

(ii) involves an element of chance that can be eliminated only by

superlative skill; or

(iii) is a game that is presented as involving an element of

chance; or

(iv) involves cards, dice, wheel or such other device, which works

on random or event generator;

(m) “online games provider” means any person who provides a

service for the conduct of any online game;

(n) “online gaming server” means any mainframe computer or set

of computers, installed or maintained by the online games provider, that

accepts, processes, stores and validates transactions arising out of online

gaming, and which manages, monitors and controls the entire system of

online gaming;

(o) “payment gateway” means, a service that authorises a user’s

transfer of funds between banks or ﬁ nancial institutions to merchants

without direct delivery of bank or credit card account information;

(p) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this

Ordinance;

(q) “regulations” means regulations made by the Authority under

section 5;

(r) “Schedule” means the Schedule appended to this Ordinance;

(s) “State” means the State of Tamil Nadu;

(t) words and expressions used herein and not deﬁ ned in this

Ordinance but deﬁ ned in the Information Technology Act, 2000 shall have

the meaning, respectively, as assigned to them in that Act.

Central Act

21 of 2000.

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

CHAPTER-II.

THE TAMIL NADU ONLINE GAMING AUTHORITY.

3. (1) The Government may, by notiﬁ cation, establish with eﬀ ect from

such date as may be speciﬁ ed in the notiﬁ cation, an Authority to be called

the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority, to exercise the powers conferred

on, and perform the functions assigned to it under this Ordinance.

Establishment

of Tamil Nadu

Online Gaming

Authority.

(2) The Authority shall consist of the following Members nominated by

the Government, namely:-

(a) an oﬃ cer, who has retired from a post not below the rank of

Chief Secretary to the Government - the Chairperson;

(b) an oﬃ cer, who has retired from a post not below the rank of

Inspector General of Police–Member;

(d) an eminent psychologist - Member;

(e) an expert in the ﬁ eld of online gaming–Member.

(3) The Chairman and Members of the Authority shall receive such

salary and allowances as may be determined by the Government.

(4) The Government may, in consultation with the Authority, provide

such oﬃ cers and employees, as deemed necessary, to the Authority, for

the eﬃ cient discharge of its powers and functions under this Ordinance.

Central Act

21 of 2000.

4. (1) The Authority shall perform the following functions, namely:-

(a) regulate online games;

(b) issue certiﬁ cate of registration to local online games providers;

Government, for inclusion in the Schedule;

(d) oversee the functioning of the online games providers

in the State;

(e) collect and maintain information and data with regard to the

activities of the online games providers;

(f) request the Government to take appropriate action as per the

Information Technology Act, 2000, whenever deemed necessary, for the

purposes of this Ordinance;

(g) resolve grievances or complaints received against any online

games provider;

Functions of

Authority.

(h) send periodical reports to the Government in such manner

as may be prescribed;

(i) advise the Government on any matter regarding online

gaming; and

(j) perform such other functions as may be prescribed.

(2) The Authority may constitute such number of committees from

among its members, as it deems ﬁ t, for the eﬃ cient discharge of its duties

and performance of its functions under this Ordinance.

236

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

Power to make

regulations.

5. (1) The Authority may, by notiﬁ cation, with the previous approval

of the Government, make regulations consistent with the provisions of this

Ordinance or the rules made thereunder, to carry out the provisions of this

Ordinance.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the

foregoing power, such regulations may provide for,—

(a) time limit, monetary limit, age restriction or such other

restrictions in regard to playing of online games; and

(b) procedure to regulate its own functions.

Power to obtain

information.

6. (1) The Authority, or any oﬃ cer empowered by it, in order to

perform the functions conferred on it by or under this Ordinance, may take

such steps as may be necessary to obtain any information from any online

games provider or online game player.

(2) The Authority may give directions, requiring any online games

provider or person in-charge of any online gaming website, establishment

or premises, where any activity relating to online gaming is carried out to

furnish such information as deemed necessary.

(3) The Authority shall, while discharging any of its functions

under this Ordinance, have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court

while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in respect of

the following matters, namely:—

Central Act

V of 1908.

(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any

person;

(b) receiving oral evidence on oath or written evidence on

aﬃ davits;

document;

(d) requisitioning of any public record or copy thereof from

any court or oﬃ ce;

(e) issuing summons for examination of witnesses or

documents; and

(f)

any other matter, which may be prescribed.

CHAPTER-III.

GENERAL PROHIBITIONS.

Prohibition of

online gambling

and of online

games of

chance.

7. (1) Online gambling is prohibited.

(2) Playing of online games of chance speciﬁ ed in the Schedule,

with money or other stakes is prohibited.

(3) No online games provider shall provide online gambling

service or allow playing of any online game of chance speciﬁ ed in the

Schedule, with money or other stakes or playing of any other online game

in contravention of the regulations, in any form.

Prohibition of

advertisement.

8. No person shall make or cause to make any advertisement in any

media including electronic means of communication, in this State, which

directly or indirectly promotes or induces any person to indulge in online

gambling or play any online game of chance speciﬁ ed in the Schedule, with

money or other stakes.

Prohibition of

transfer of

funds.

9. No bank, ﬁ nancial institution or payment gateway provider shall

engage in any transaction or authorization of funds towards payment

for any online gambling or any online game of chance speciﬁ ed in the

Schedule.

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

CHAPTER-IV.

REGULATIONS FOR LOCAL ONLINE GAMES PROVIDERS.

10. (1) On and from the appointed day, no local online games

provider shall provide any service for the conduct of any online game

except in accordance with the certiﬁ cate of registration duly obtained from

the Authority.

(2) Every local online games provider providing any service for

the conduct of any online game, immediately before the appointed day,

may continue to provide such service, subject to the general prohibitions

contained in Chapter-III of this Ordinance, for a period not exceeding ninety

days from the appointed day:

Provided that such local online games provider applies for registration

under this section within a period of thirty days from the appointed day.

(3) Every application for registration shall be made to the

Authority in such form along with such fee as may be prescribed.

(4) On receipt of an application under sub-section (3), the

Authority may, after making such enquiry as it deems necessary, either

issue or refuse to issue a certiﬁ cate of registration:

Provided that no application for issue of certiﬁ cate of registration shall

be refused, unless a reasonable opportunity of being heard is given to the

applicant.

(5) Every certiﬁ cate of registration shall be issued in such form

as may be prescribed, subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(a) The online games provider shall not provide, any online

gambling service or allow playing of any online game of chance speciﬁ ed

in the Schedule, with money or other stakes;

(b) The online games provider shall neither allow nor cause

to be allowed to play any online game in contravention of the regulations.

Registration of

local online

games

providers.

(6) The certiﬁ cate of registration issued under sub-section (5)

shall be valid for a period of three years.

11. (1) If the Authority is satisﬁ ed, either on a reference made to it in

this behalf or otherwise that—

Suspension and

revocation of

certiﬁ cate of

registration.

(a) the certiﬁ cate of registration issued under this Ordinance, has

been obtained by misrepresentation or fraud;

(b) the holder of the certiﬁ cate of registration has failed to comply

with the conditions, subject to which the certiﬁ cate of registration has been

issued; or

the provisions of this Ordinance, the rules or the regulations,

then, without prejudice to any other proceeding to which the holder of the

certiﬁ cate of registration may be liable, the Authority may, by an order

after giving him an opportunity to show cause, revoke the certiﬁ cate of

registration by giving reasons therefor.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where the

Authority is of the prima facie view that the certiﬁ cate of registration granted

to the online games provider must be suspended, the Authority may,

do so for reasons to be recorded in writing, at any time before revoking

the certiﬁ cate.

238

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

Appeal.

12. (1) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Authority revoking or

suspending the certiﬁ cate of registration under section 11, may prefer an

appeal, within ﬁ fteen days from the date on which the order is communicated

to him, to the Appellate Authority:

Provided that the Appellate Authority, may entertain the appeal after

expiry of the said ﬁ fteen days period, if it is satisﬁ ed that there was suﬃ cient

cause for not ﬁ ling it within that period.

(2) The Appellate Authority, after giving a reasonable opportunity

of being heard to the appellant, shall decide the appeal as expeditiously as

possible, but in any case not later than one month from the date of receipt

of the appeal.

Establishment

of Appellate

Authority.

13. (1) The Government may, by notiﬁ cation, establish an Appellate

Authority, which shall consist of a Chairperson and not more than two other

members.

(2) A person shall not be qualiﬁ ed for appointment as the

Chairperson of the Appellate Authority unless he is a retired Judge of a

High Court, or is a person who is qualiﬁ ed to be a Judge of a High Court.

(3) The qualiﬁ cations for appointment of the members of the

Appellate Authority shall be such as may be prescribed.

(4) The Chairperson and the members of the Appellate Authority

shall receive such salary and allowances as may be determined by the

Government.

(5) The Government may, in consultation with the Appellate

Authority, provide such oﬃ cers and employees, as deemed necessary,

to the Appellate Authority, for the eﬃ cient discharge of its powers and

functions under this Ordinance.

(6) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, the Appellate

Authority may regulate its own procedure.

CHAPTER-V.

REGULATIONS FOR NON-LOCAL ONLINE GAMES PROVIDERS.

Restrictions.

14.(1) No Non-local online games provider shall,—

(a) provide any online gambling service;

(b) allow playing of any online game of chance speciﬁ ed in

the Schedule, with money or other stakes; or

regulations,

in this State.

(2) No Non-local online games provider shall be deemed to have

contravened sub-section (1), if he has exercised due diligence or has

provided geo -blocking in this State for the purpose.

(3) For the purpose of sub-section (2), a Non-local online games

provider shall be deemed to have exercised due diligence if it had,--

(a) informed prospective customers that the State prohibits

online gambling and playing of certain online games to customers who are

physically present in this State;

(b) required the customers to enter into contracts with an express

condition that the customers shall not use the service, if they are physically

present in this State;

239

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

establish that they were not physically present in this State;

(d) obtained data that indicated that the customers were not physically

present in this State when the relevant customer accounts were opened

and throughout the period when the service was provided to the customers;

and

(e) taken all other reasonably practicable measures to ensure that

no person physically present in this State could have access to online

gambling service or to online games of chance prohibited under section 7.

15. (1) Any Non-local games provider who fails to comply with any of

the restriction speciﬁ ed in section 14 shall be issued with a show cause

notice by the Authority in such form and manner, as may be prescribed,

to furnish a reply within such period as may be prescribed. If no reply

is received or if the reply received is not satisfactory, the Authority may

proceed in accordance with sub-sections (2) and (3).

Procedure to

deal with non-

compliance of

restrictions.

(2) The Authority shall make a recommendation to the Government

to request the Central Government, or as the case may be, the oﬃ cer

specially authorized by the Central Government in this behalf, to exercise

the power under section 69-A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to

block access to persons in this State to the service provided by the Non-

local online games provider:

Provided that,—

(a) the Government may, for reasons to be recorded in writing,

refuse to act on the recommendation of the Authority; or

(b) where the Government accepts the recommendation of the

Authority, it shall ordinarily make a request to the Central Government

within ﬁ fteen days from the date of receipt of the recommendation.

(3) A copy of the recommendation made by the Authority under

sub-section (2), shall be provided to the Non-local online games provider

concerned.

CHAPTER-VI.

OFFENCES AND PENALTIES.

16. (1) Any person who indulges in online gambling or plays any

online game of chance speciﬁ ed in the Schedule, with money or other

stakes in contravention of section 7 or plays any other online game in

contravention of the regulations shall be punished with imprisonment for a

term which may extend to three months or with ﬁ ne which may extend to

ﬁ ve thousand rupees or with both.

Penalty for

contravention of

sections 7, 8, 10

and 14.

(2) Any person who makes or causes to make advertisement

in any media, in contravention of section 8, shall be punished with

imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with ﬁ ne which

may extend to ﬁ ve lakh rupees or with both.

(3) Any person who provides, online gambling service or any

online game of chance speciﬁ ed in the Schedule with money or other

stakes or any person who contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1),

(2) or (5) of section 10 or section 14 shall be punished with imprisonment

for a term which may extend to three years or with ﬁ ne which may extend

to ten lakh rupees or with both:

Central Act

21 of 2000.

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

Provided that a Non-local online games provider shall be punished

for contravention of section14, only if the Central Government or an oﬃ cer

specially authorised by it in this behalf, exercises the power under section

69-A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

(4) (a) If any person convicted of an oﬀ ence under sub-section (2)

is again convicted of an oﬀ ence under the same provision, he shall be

punished with imprisonment for the second and for every subsequent

oﬀ ence for a term which shall not be less than one year, but may extend to

three years and shall also be liable to ﬁ ne which shall not be less than ﬁ ve

lakh rupees, but may extend to ten lakh rupees.

(b) If any person convicted of an oﬀ ence under sub-section (3) is again

convicted of an oﬀ ence under the same provision, he shall be punished

with imprisonment for the second and for every subsequent oﬀ ence for a

term which shall not be less than three years, but may extend to ﬁ ve years

and shall also be liable to ﬁ ne which shall not be less than ten lakh rupees,

but may extend to twenty lakh rupees.

Cognizance of

oﬀ ences.

17. No Court shall take cognizance of any oﬀ ence punishable

under this Ordinance, rules or regulations made thereunder except upon

complaint in writing made by a person authorized in this behalf by the

Authority.

Power to

compound

oﬀ ences.

18. (1) Any oﬃ cer specially empowered by the Government, by

notiﬁ cation in this behalf, may accept, from any person who has committed

an oﬀ ence under sub-section (1) of section 16, by way of composition of

such oﬀ ence, a sum of money not exceeding the maximum amount of

ﬁ ne speciﬁ ed for such oﬀ ence but not less than ﬁ fty per cent. of the said

amount.

(2) On payment of such sum of money to such oﬃ cer, the accused

person, if in custody, shall be discharged and no further proceedings shall

be taken against him in respect of such oﬀ ence.

(3) The compounding of an oﬀ ence under sub-section (1) shall

be allowed only once for any person.

Oﬀ ences by

companies.

19. (1) Where an oﬀ ence under this Ordinance has been committed

by a company, every person who, at the time the oﬀ ence was committed,

was in-charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of

the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to

be guilty of the oﬀ ence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and

punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any

such person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the oﬀ ence was

committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence

to prevent the commission of such oﬀ ence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1),

where an oﬀ ence under this Ordinance has been committed by a company

and it is proved that the oﬀ ence has been committed with the consent or

connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of any director,

manager, secretary or other oﬃ cer of the company including key managerial

personnel as deﬁ ned in the Companies Act, 2013, such director, manager,

secretary or other oﬃ cer including key managerial personnel, shall be

deemed to be guilty of that oﬀ ence and shall be liable to be proceeded

against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.— For the purposes of this section, —

(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a ﬁ rm or other

association of individuals; and

(b) “director” in relation to a ﬁ rm, means a partner in the ﬁ rm.

Central Act

21 of 2000.

Central Act

18 of 2013.

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

CHAPTER-VII.

MISCELLANEOUS.

20. The Chairperson, every member of the Authority and of the

Appellate Authority, oﬃ cer or any other employee of the Authority and of

the Appellate Authority shall, when acting or purporting to act in pursuance

of any of the provision of this Ordinance be deemed to be a public servant

within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

Chairperson,

members,

oﬃ cers and

employees

of Authority

and Appellate

Authority to be

public servants.

21. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any

public servant in respect of anything which is done in good faith or intended

to be done in the discharge of his oﬃ cial functions or in exercise of his

powers under this Ordinance, the rules, or the regulations.

Protection of

action taken in

good faith.

22. The provisions of this Ordinance shall be in addition to, and not

in derogation, of the provisions of any other law, for the time being in force.

Ordinance not in

derogation of

any other law.

23. (1) For the purposes of this Ordinance, any online game speciﬁ ed

in the Schedule shall be presumed to be an online game of chance.

(2) The Government may, by notiﬁ cation, omit or add any online

game in the Schedule, on the recommendation of the Authority and upon

issue of such notiﬁ cation, the Schedule shall be deemed to be amended

accordingly.

Presumption as

to online game

of chance and

power to amend

Schedule.

24. (1) The Government may make rules for carrying out all or any of

the purposes of this Ordinance.

Power to make

rules.

(2) (a) All rules made under this Ordinance shall be published

in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette and, unless they are expressed

to come into force on a particular day, shall come into force on the day on

which they are so published.

(b) All notiﬁ cations issued under this Ordinance shall, unless

they are expressed to come into force on a particular day, shall come into

force on the day on which they are so published.

(3) Every rule made or notiﬁ cation or order issued under this

Ordinance shall, as soon as possible, after it is made or issued, be placed on

the table of the Legislative Assembly, and if, before the expiry of the session

in which it is so placed or the next session, the Legislative Assembly makes

any modiﬁ cation in any such rule or notiﬁ cation or order, or the Legislative

Assembly decides that the rule or notiﬁ cation or order should not be made

or issued, the rule or notiﬁ cation or order shall, thereafter, have eﬀ ect only

in such modiﬁ ed form or be of no eﬀ ect, as the case may be, so, however,

that any such modiﬁ cation or annulment shall be without prejudice to the

validity of anything previously done under that rule or notiﬁ cation or order.

25. If any diﬃ culty arises in giving eﬀ ect to any provision of

this Ordinance, the Government may, by an order published in the

Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent

with the provisions of this Ordinance as may be necessary or expedient for

removing the diﬃ culty.

Power to remove

diﬃ culties.

Central Act

XLV of 1860.

243

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT.

The State has the responsibility to protect the mental health of citizens and to guard against the ill-eﬀ ects

of gambling in any form, including betting. In this light, the State has maintained a long-standing policy of

prohibiting in-person gambling and betting as reﬂ ected in the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 (Tamil Nadu

Act III of 1930) and the Chennai City Police Act, 1888 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1888). The spread of online

gaming, especially addictive online games and gambling games played via the Internet, threatens to undo

the eﬀ orts of the State. Firstly, gambling by means of electronic communication is available at all hours, from

any place, and to any person who is able to access a device capable of remote communication. Secondly,

online gambling often involves players competing with non-human/virtual participants, which are controlled

by a variety of computer algorithms. The degree of chance or skill involved in such remote games cannot be

assessed independent of the relevant algorithm or program. Lastly, remote gambling often takes place by

means of virtual currencies and tokens, bypassing the State’s ﬁ nancial surveillance. Thus the online gambling

considerably aﬀ ects mental health of the people and has left many families in ﬁ nancial distress, and would

aﬀ ect the long term prospects of the State and its population.

2. Similarly, studies show that other online games not involving gambling and betting also have negative

consequences in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning

of common people. Further, the school students are also aﬀ ected by these games resulting in decreasing

Intelligent Quotient, writing skills and creativity.

3. Thus, online gambling and online games are addictive in nature and increase the threat to public order

manifold, while posing diﬃ culties in terms of designing appropriate regulation. A Committee headed by retired

High Court Judge Thiru K.Chandru, which was constituted to advise the Government on enacting a fresh

legislation on online games, has in its report, taking into account various parameters has observed that online

version of any game cannot be compared with the oﬄ ine version of the game, except in cases of word games

or board games not involving any random outcome generator and that online games of chance involving

random generators are known to the developers and hence are pseudo random generators; such games can

be played with bots; no mechanism is available for auditing such gaming systems; and artiﬁ cial intelligence can

be used to manipulate the games and lure the players into continued indulgence.

4. On careful consideration of the report of the said Committee, the ﬁ ndings of a survey among school

teachers on the eﬀ ects of online games on Government school students, research studies on the subject and

the views of the stakeholders and general public and after having examined various legislative options at its

disposal, the Government have decided to prohibit online gambling and to regulate online games.

5. The Ordinance seeks to give eﬀ ect to the aforesaid decision.

(By Order of the Governor)

C. GOPI RAVIKUMAR,

Secretary to Government (Legislation),

Law Department.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF STATIONERY AND PRINTING, CHENNAI

ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU