India clamps down on online gambling in new ban
Andhra Pradesh government insists online gambling is ‘misleading’ young Indians
The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has announced a total ban of online gambling as part of a major crackdown.
The restrictive measures were announced on Thursday by State Information Minister Perni Venkataramaiah, who indicated that the Andhra Pradesh cabinet would look to amend existing legislation, which dates back to 1974.
The minister cited the steep rise in online gambling in India during the Covid-19 lockdown and claimed the vertical was damaging Indian youth by ‘misleading’ them.
Under the rule changes, individuals found to be organising online gambling in the state will face up to a year in jail, with the possibility of steeper fines for repeat offenders.
“If the organisers (of online gambling games) are caught for the second time, they will be punished with two years of imprisonment and fine. Those who play online gambling games will be punished with six months imprisonment,” said Venkataramaiah.
The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has a population of more than 49 million spread across 13 districts.
At present, only the Indian states of Nagaland and Sikkim license and regulate online gambling as there is no regulation at a national level.
In 2015, the state of Sikkim unsuccessfully lobbied to allow Sikkim-state licensed operators to target the rest of India after the Indian government ruled it would violate the laws of states which prohibit online gambling.