The argument related to rummy and poker being games of skill and not games of chance can at best be raised by players and not the online gaming companies whose only intention is to make money through inducements and consequent addiction, the State government argued before the Madras High Court on Monday.
Defending the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022 before Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu, Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal said not a single player had approached the court and that the law had been challenged only by gaming companies.
“See how insidious it is. If a person pays ₹5,000 for playing online games, the companies give back a bonus of ₹5,250. If a player refers a friend, then he gets another ₹5,000. Even while playing the game, special bonuses are offered. What is this for? It is to induce you and to get you addicted,” the counsel said.
Stating that it was similar to multi level marketing where scores of people get cheated after being used as bait to fetch more number of customers, he said: “It is a vicious circle of the more you put, the more you get but the more you lose, the more they (gaming companies) earn. Should not the State be worried about this?”
Requesting the court to look at the revenue of the online gaming companies, Mr. Sibal said, their earnings in just one year was ₹2,132 crore and that it had risen steeply from ₹1,421 crore in the previous year. “The profit alone was ₹936 crore. These are big bucks. Businesses which offer online games with stakes cannot be equated with physical games at all,” he said.
The Senior Counsel said that there was lack of transparency while playing online games as the players were not aware as to whether they were really playing with another player or with a bot. “The gaming companies don’t care about who wins or loses, they are concerned only with their revenue,” he added.
“The petitioners before your Lordships have no skills. They are just organisers, they are not players. They are making money and they need not be protected. The geoblocking of the games will be done only in Tamil Nadu and they are free to offer their games in other States where there is no prohibition,” Mr. Sibal said.
He also highlighted that the threat with online games was that they were accessible round the clock unlike clubs which have fixed timings for playing the games physically and that even kids might end up playing the online games by faking their age. He said the State government wants to protect public interest.
After Mr. Sibal wound up his arguments, the judges adjourned the hearing to August 17 for the arguments of Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram and said Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, C. Manishankar, Satish Parasaran and others representing the online gaming companies could give their reply on August 21.
