The Karnataka government on Tuesday announced that it would come out with a new legislation to curb cricket betting and online gaming.
Replying to concerns raised by members across party affiliations in the Assembly about the serious impact of betting and online gaming on youth, Home Minister G. Parameshwara said, “Soon we will bring out a new legislation to prevent this.” At the same time, he sought to remind the Centre that it too had a role in curbing the menace by amending the Central legislation concerned.
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GST from gaming
Pointing out that the Centre was getting 28% GST on proceeds from online gaming, he said the Centre should not allow online gaming to continue just because it is getting huge GST from it.
Earlier, IT&BT Minister Priyank Kharge said there was a dire need to clearly define “Game of Chance” and “Game of Skill” by both the State and the Centre to set the legal stage ready for banning online betting and gaming.
Pointing out that gaming transactions accounted for about ₹1.6 lakh crore, he said the Centre was getting nearly ₹74,000 crore as GST from these transactions. Some online gamers had even started playing on the servers of other countries to avoid GST, he said.
The Home Minister also talked about drug cases, and said, “Our government has filed 6,764 cases related to drug peddling so far. In fact, the police recently seized 9,645 kg of ganja and 233 kg of synthetic drugs, together worth around ₹142 crore.”
Dr. Parameshwara said the government had already deported 245 foreigners, mostly African nationals for their involvement in drug dealings. Cases had been filed against 102 foreigners in this regard, he said.
Earlier Congress MLA Ravi Ganiga alleged that the cricket betting had become so rampant in districts including Mandya that there were bookies in every prominent village. “After every IPL cricket match, the bookies are taking away the two-wheelers from the youth who lose bets and fail to provide the betting amount,” he said. He alleged that the bookies had connections with all the three major political parties and use their influence whenever they were in trouble.
