Cyber cops call for online Rummy ban in India

The decision earlier this year by the Indian state of Telengana to ban online rummy despite its status as a skill game appears to have prompted the cyber division of the Tamil Nadu state police to suggest a similar ban and an increase in their powers of enforcement.

In an interview with the publication Hindu, unidentified officers said they were concerned at the proliferation of advertising for online rummy, claiming that: “Hundreds of people silently lose their money playing online rummy games. This can lead to depression or suicide.”

If the state legislature were to pass an ordinance prohibiting online rummy it should include police powers to enter and search premises where they believed on reasonable grounds that online rummy was being played, the police recommended.

In related news, Krida Sports and Games Pvt. Ltd., a Chennai-based company with ambitions to introduce rummy in the states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has filed a civil writ petition in the Indian Supreme Court, pleading that rummy should be allowed to be played for stakes without any interference from the police.

A total of 19 parties have been made respondents by Krida Sports including the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the Director General of Police of the three states.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing again today (September 1.)