Introduction
The State of Tamil Nadu seems to be back with another set of regulations for real money games that has found divided opinion on whether this set of regulations should be challenged in Court. The State has had a long history of conflicts with the gaming industry especially after trying to classify games of skill such as Rummy and Poker into games of chance, this being contrary to well established principles in India, due to which certain regulations were struck down / read down by the Courts of law in India, as we will also discuss later on.
We will, firstly, summarize the present regulations, and secondly, give a brief history about the various challenges that the State of Tamil Nadu has faced trying to regulate the gaming industry. The State of Tamil Nadu recently released the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (Real Money Games) Regulations, 2025, (“TN Gaming Regulations”), on 7th February, 2025 as approved by the Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Applicability
The applicability of the TN Gaming Regulations seems to be only on online real money games, and not offline real money games. “Online real money games” are to be understood as defined in Rule 2(qd) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules”), which defines the term as “an online game where a user makes a deposit in cash or kind with the expectation of earning winnings on that deposit”. Further, “winnings” is explained to mean “any prize, in cash or kind, which is distributed or intended to be distributed to a user of an online game based on the performance of the user and in accordance with the rules of such online game”.
Therefore, websites which allow users to play online real money games, including rummy, poker, or other games of skill and chance, played for real money stakes, will be under the ambit of the present TN Gaming Regulations.
Regulations
Real money gaming companies in India will now have to adhere to strict regulations in the State of Tamil Nadu to ensure responsible gaming practices. Here’s a checklist of what the gaming platforms will be required to implement:
- Strict Age Restrictions
Minors under 18 are prohibited from participating in real money gaming platforms. This rule has to be enforced through mandatory identity verification by implementation of a KYC process.
- Mandatory KYC Verification
A Know Your Customer (KYC) process is mandatory for creation of accounts for players to play any online games. This includes verifying the Aadhaar details of the players, followed by a second-layer authentication via a One-Time Password (OTP) sent to their Aadhar registered phone number. Gaming platforms must ensure compliance before allowing users to play.
- Session Time Alerts
To curb excessive gaming, the real money gaming platforms are required to introduce pop-up caution messages if a player continues gaming for more than an hour. These alerts must appear every 30 minutes, informing users of their playtime.
- Spending Limits and Warnings
Real money gaming platforms must allow users to set daily, weekly, and monthly monetary limits. Every time a deposit is made, a notification should inform the player of their set limit and their total expenditure so far in bold letters.
- Addiction Warnings
All real money gaming platforms are required to display a clear warning on their login page, explicitly stating that: “ONLINE GAMING IS ADDICTIVE IN NATURE.”
- Enforced Gaming Curfew
To discourage late-night gaming addiction, a mandatory “blank hours” period from 12 AM to 5 AM is required to be imposed by the real money gaming platforms. During these hours, players shall not be allowed to log in to play any games on the real money gaming platforms.
Earlier Challenges to regulate Gaming in Tamil Nadu
Various challenges have been faced by the Tamil Nadu Government while attempting to regulate gaming in the state. The Tamil Nadu Government had passed the Tamil Nadu Gaming & Police Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 (“Tamil Nadu Amendment Act”) way back in February 25, 2021 by which the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 was amended which prohibited all forms of games being conducted in cyberspace, irrespective of the game involved being a game of mere skill, if such game is played for a wager, bet, money or other stakes.
The High Court of Madras, in its judgment Junglee Games India Private Limited v. The State of Tamil Nadu,[i] struck down the Tamil Nadu Amendment Act. It held that games like Rummy, Poker, and other ‘games of skill’ could not be banned, as they were not governed by chance and thus fell under exceptions. The Court further ruled that the blanket ban violated the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom to practice any profession or carry on any occupation, trade, or business. While upholding the petition, the Court reaffirmed that Rummy and Poker qualify as “games of skill.” The Court observed as follows:
“114. There appears to be a little doubt that both rummy and Poker are games of skill as they involve considerable memory, working out of percentages, the ability to follow the cards on the table and constantly adjust to the changing possibilities of the unseen cards…”
However, even after this development, the Tamil Nadu Government continued its efforts to regulate real money gaming in all forms, by passing the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Ordinance, 2022 (“Ordinance”) on 1 October 2022.
Subsequently the legislative assembly introduced a bill to replace the Ordinance. The Tamil Nadu governor returned the bill on 6 March 2023 to the legislative assembly highlighting legislative incompetence. The assembly reintroduced the bill with no amendments on 23 March 2023. This bill was then published in April 2023, and the Tamil Nadu government enacted the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022[ii] (“TN Gaming Act”), aimed at banning online gambling and real-money online games of chance within Tamil Nadu. The TN Gaming Act defined online gambling as wagering or betting online. Further, the Act provided a Schedule which contained all online games of chance. This Schedule included the games of rummy and poker.
Thereafter, the Madras High Court in All India Gaming Federation v. The State of Tamil Nadu[iii] upheld the constitutional validity of the TN Gaming Act and clarified its application to games predominantly involving an element of chance. The Court excluded games of skills (viz. rummy and poker) from the ambit of the measures which prohibit such games contemplated under the TN Gaming Act. The Court also set aside the entries in the Schedule to the TN Gaming Act which listed online games of rummy and poker as games of chance. The Supreme Court is set to review the Tamil Nadu government’s challenge against the High Court’s favorable ruling for online poker and rummy.[iv]
Conclusion
The introduction of the TN Gaming Regulations follows a long history of regulatory attempts and judicial challenges concerning real money gaming in Tamil Nadu. Given past legal precedents, it remains to be seen whether gaming entities will challenge this new framework, potentially leading to further litigation and judicial scrutiny. If contested, these regulations could become yet another chapter in the ongoing legal battles shaping the state’s gaming laws.
That being said, these regulations address a pressing social concern—unregulated online gaming and its consequences, including addiction, financial distress, and, in extreme cases, suicides. The unchecked rise of gambling addiction can affect many families, where the financial burden is often on a single earning member. Stricter controls, such as KYC verification, spending limits, and blank hours, can help mitigate these risks.
There is already division of opinion amongst the gaming entities on the TN Gaming Regulations. There are reports which state that the gaming entities see the imposition of blank hours, i.e., restriction on real money gaming from 12 AM to 5AM in any form as arbitrary, and are planning to challenge the same. Further, a few entities also pointed out the lack of time for implementation of the TN Gaming Regulations on real money gaming platforms.
End Notes:
[i] Junglee Games India Private Limited v. The State of Tamil Nadu, W.P. Nos. 18022 of 2020.
[ii] https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/acts_states/tamil-nadu/2023/Act9of2023TamilNadu.pdf.
[iii] All India Gaming Federation v. The State of Tamil Nadu, W.P. No. 13203 of 2023.
[iv] Stay Application, WMP.12944/2023.
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[…] have also covered these regulations in our earlier post available here. We had questioned whether the regulations were going to be challenged, which is happening, but it […]