For the last two years Goa’s lawmakers have been raising their voices against online gaming and gambling, expressing concern that youths commit suicide after sustaining losses.
In the last assembly session, then Congress MLA Sankalp Amonkar who joined the BJP later, had raised the issue during Zero Hour demanding a ban on online gaming. This year, during the monsoon session, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, Congress MLA Altone D’costa and AAP MLA Venzy Viegas also took up the issue and sought action from the government. According to the opposition MLA’s gambling and gaming websites earn crores of rupees every day as those who are addicted to it lose their money. They should be stopped from earning at the cost of peoples lives. They said that there are many websites which lure youths to join them.
Yuri Alemao, on the seventh day of the ongoing assembly session, raised the issue of illegal online gaming and illegal (mini) casinos activities in the state. “Youth are falling prey to online gaming and commit suicide when they lose. There should be a crackdown on illegal online gaming. These illegal activities are taking place in every constituency of the state. They are not taking place only in Canacona constituency represented by Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar. He should advise the government about how to curb these activities,” Alemao said.
He charged that it is an illegal business of around Rs 30 crore per day in the state where people lose money. He suggested bringing an Act like in Tamil Nadu, where it becomes easy to curb the illegal online games and gambling. He stressed that the law should be enforced to take action against these online gamblers. Other MLA’s from the opposition benches also raised their voices against the trend and urged the government to take action.
Replying to the opposition MLAs, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that online gaming is a serious issue and his government is taking steps to curb it. He assured the House of studying the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling Act to curb the illegal activities going on in the coastal state. “I will ask the officials to study the Tamil Nadu Act and if needed then we will think in that manner. But before that I assure strict action will be taken against kiosks running (illegal casino) machines. These cases are mostly in the coastal belt. In the rural areas people use mobiles (for online gaming),” Sawant said.
“I am taking a review of online gaming. Presently in 11 hotels legal casinos are going on and six are offshore casinos, where Goans have no permission to enter. It is legal business,” he said adding that action will be taken against online gaming and illegal casinos. He said the police in the past have raided such illegal casinos and shut the businesses. “By July this year seven cases were registered and some accused persons were arrested,” he said.
Alemao also questioned whether the government was tracking the origin of the online game apps. “Does the intelligence of Goa Police track these Apps. Everyone knows who is operating these Apps. Future generations are getting spoiled. Curb these illegal online games,” Alemao said, adding that the government should not play with the lives of innocent people.
In July last year, MLA Sankalp Amonkar had raised the issue demanding a ban on online gaming. Amonkar said that many youths have got addicted to such gaming and lose money. “Many governments have banned online gaming and the Goa government should also ban it,” he demanded. “One can start playing these games at Rs 5 to Rs 10,000. One can even extend that limit to over Rs 40,000 per day. It is a complete scam and the government is not monitoring it.” Amonkar had said. Chief Minister Sawant had assured the House of taking action against online gaming and gambling. “I will take action on it,” he had said.
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