India esports athletes’ overall body EPWA has urged the Tamil Nadu government to recognise skill video games as a distinct activity, not club it along with gambling, and deliver secure harbour for skilled gamers, a senior formal of the entity said on Friday. “We have sent representation to the state govt on August 13. We have requested the Tamil Nadu authorities to recognise talent online games as a distinctive activity and not club it together with gambling and provide secure harbour for specialist gamers,” Esports Players Welfare Affiliation (EPWA) Director Shivani Jha explained to PTI.
The Madras Superior Court docket experienced in August very last yr struck down a new amendment created to the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, passed in 1930, which imposed a ban on on-line gaming of rummy and poker with stakes. The bench declared Part II of the TN Gaming & Police Guidelines (Amendment) Act, 2021, as unconstitutional which banned betting or wagering in cyberspace and also game titles of talent if played for a wager, guess, cash or other stakes.
The bench, nevertheless, granted liberty to the point out to pass an additional legislation, devoid of any lacunae.
Tamil Nadu has set up a committee below the chairmanship of retired Justice K Chandru for advising on enacting fresh legislation on online online games. The condition govt has invited inputs from various stakeholders for new laws.
Chess Grandmaster Ankit Rajpara in aid of on the internet players sought the intervention of the central authorities in the ban imposed by states. “In the past, the central authorities has offered comfort and ease to players in stakeholder conferences that we will not be handled as criminals, even so, state governments keep on to do the reverse,” Rajpara mentioned.
Jha claimed numerous legislations and putting talent-dependent video games in the very same bucket as gambling is major to the criminalisation of skill-based mostly gamers.
“When India is taking part in intercontinental tournaments and developers are producing new games, it is critical for the point out to regulate on-line talent-centered gaming. In addition, courts have continuously pronounced judgments stating the condition federal government can only make legislation on on the internet gambling and not gaming, this finishes up placing gamers at danger and equating them with gamblers and criminals,” she explained.
