The government of the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP), in the coastal region of southeastern India, has decided to ban online gambling. Under the command of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the new law in force now punishes the organizers of the virtual game with up to two years in prison.
“Organizers of online games like rummy and poker will be punished with a year in prison if they are caught for the first time,” said AP Information Minister Perni Venkataramaiah.
A second transgression will result in two years in prison plus fines. People who participate in the online game will be punished with six months of detention.
Venkataramaiah added in a statement to local media that online gambling has become an addiction that afflicts the country’s youth. Therefore, the regional government is disputed to make the necessary changes to the 1974 State Gambling Law.
The decision to ban online gambling was made after reports showing a 21% growth in the Indian online gaming industry during the application of social distance measures due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
Effects of coronavirus in India
India surpassed Covid-19’s daily confirmed new world cases on Sunday, 6. According to the government, about 90,000 notifications of the disease have been recorded. The data are from the country’s Ministry of Health.
As such, India tends to pass Brazil on Monday, 7, and become the second country with the highest number of cases. New coronavirus records in India totaled 4.1 million, according to government information.
Therefore, India should be second only to the United States, which has 6.4 million cases and almost 193 thousand deaths.
In India, the number of deaths from illness approaches 71 thousand. In addition, the country has had the highest daily load of cases of the disease on the planet for almost a month.
