The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), a skill gaming industry body, has moved the Madras High Court, challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s online gambling law that came into effect April 21, Moneycontrol has learnt. The Tamil Nadu government banned online rummy and poker in the southern state, terming them online games of chance in the recently passed Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022. Gambling is a state subject in India. As reported by Moneycontrol on April 24, several online rummy and poker platforms, including A23, Classic Rummy, RummyCircle, and PokerBaazi, barred users from playing paid contests in Tamil Nadu. Southern India is an important market for skill-based games such as rummy, which has a significant penetration in these states, industry executives have told Moneycontrol. All India Gaming Federation, which counts Mobile Premier League (MPL), Gameskraft, and Head Digital Works (A23) as members, had previously said it will challenge the law, which was unconstitutional and disregards the six decades of established legal jurisprudence as well as the recent judgment of the Madras High Court that had struck down a similar law. “What this law in effect does is treat and conflate games of skill as gambling and games of chance. The law also completely misunderstands technology and prohibits random number generators, which are an integral part of fairness for online gaming” AIGF CEO Roland Landers had told Moneycontrol. The law will also likely set the stage for a dispute with the Centre over regulating the burgeoning skill-based gaming industry in the country. On April 6, the union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) notified new gaming-related amendments to the IT Act 2021 on April 6.It will allow multiple self-regulatory organisations to determine whether a real-money game, where the transfer of money is involved, is permitted in India or not. On April 14, minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the internet cannot be regulated by states, hence it is “meaningless” for a state government to try and legislate sectors such as online gaming.