Online Rummy, Poker Cannot be Banned, Says Madras High Court  

Chennai: The Madras High Court termed online rummy and poker as games of skill and refused to ban them. The High Court took this decision while upholding the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022. The court said that prohibition or ban would apply only to games of chance and not to games of skill such as rummy and poker.

The order was pronounced by a bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavulu on Thursday, after hearing a batch of pleas filed by online gaming companies, including the All India Gaming Federation. These petitions challenged the Constitutional validity of the law passed by the Tamil Nadu government prohibiting online gambling and regulating online games in the state.

The Tamil Nadu government enacted this law to ban online gambling and regulating online games after several committed suicide after losing money in online games.