Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the AP Gaming (Amendment) Bill 2020 imposing a ban on online games in the state. This decision follows some unfortunate events of some youngsters committing suicides in recent days after they were pushed into debt by playing some online games.

This has more to do with online gambling services than any other normal online games. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke about this Gaming Amendment Bill and noted how youngsters have been committing suicides after they were pushed into financial debt.

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Home Minister M Sucharita also explained the objective behind amending the gaming law and pointed out how online gambling could induce criminal behavior in society and increase the number of organized crimes. These crimes include but are not limited to money laundering and fraud.

Under the amendment, the first offense attracts imprisonment of up to one year and a fine of Rs 5,000. For every subsequent offense, the term of imprisonment might extend up to two years and a fine of Rs 10,000. It's also worth pointing out that every offense under this will be non-bailable.

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This particular news follows Tamil Nadu's ban on online games in the state citing similar reasons. In fact, it comes a little over a week following the ban in TN.

We'll be closely following this news for further developments, so keep an eye out for an update. There's always an option to bring proper regulations in place instead of banning but we hope this decision will bring a positive impact on society.

Source: NDTV

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