Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy has written to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking to ban online gambling games. He informed reporters on Wednesday about writing the letter and said that many innocent and ignorant people are losing their money and their families have become homeless because of the addiction.
The letter by the Chief Minister follows the death of a man who took his life citing addiction to online gambling games and lost over Rs 25 lakh. Vijayakumar also left a message that his death should be the last and that online games were a trap, so people should not get addicted. He said that he used three different IDs and lost Rs 30 lakh due to his addiction. Even if he earns Rs 30,000 through the game, by then he would have lost Rs 2 lakh, said the youth in an audio message recorded before his death.
Following this, CM Narayanasamy said that he received a request from various people seeking a ban on online gambling and has written to the Union government following their demand.
The Chief Minister also recalled that online mobile application Blue Whale Challenge was banned since many people took the extreme step.
The death of the youngster in Puducherry has also increased the demand for a blanket ban on online gambling games in Tamil Nadu.
PMK founder Ramadoss, who has long been demanding a ban on online gambling games, also issued a statement. The PMK leader said that gambling is banned at clubs but allowed online. So, the Union and state governments should consider banning online gambling sites.
The DMK Dharmapuri MP Senthilkumar has also written to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking a ban. He said, “Youth has no idea about the safety of the websites they access, as there are several fake websites for rummy. When the youth pay cash through debit or credit card, their cards also get blocked.”