Bengaluru, March 30: The Basavaraj Bommai government on Wednesday said it has moved the Supreme Court against Karnataka High Court’s verdict quashing a ban imposed on online gaming in the state. The government, in its petition, stated that as many as 28,000 cyber crime cases have been filed in the last three years, and hence there is a need for a law in place to maintain public order. Due to losses in online gambling, several people committed suicide and families have been ruined, the government said.
“Therefore, the government criminalised wagering, betting or risking money on unknown results of an event,” it added. Criminalisation of betting was done by way of passing the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021, the government said. The high court has not taken into account police cases and misleading contents in various websites to woo the people to part with huge money, it added.
The government also stated that the high court gravely failed to notice the fact that betting or wagering on horse-racing conducted only on the race track shall be permissible under the Karnataka Act, wherein the interference by authorities would effectively regulate the same, unlike the situation in online platforms. UNI
