Puducherry CM demands a ban on select 'online games' after an extreme incident: Report
The CM took this step after an unfortunate incident surfaced online where a 38-year-old person died of suicide. Let’s check out more details around this case along with the crux of the issue here including these gambling platforms with online gaming here.
A new report has surfaced online highlighting a call for a ban on select 'online games' in India. This new report also shared some vital details around the reason behind this call. Looking closely, Puducherry Chief Minister, V Narayanasamy wrote a letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Information and Broadcasting Minister. In the letter, Narayanasamy asked for a ban on online rummy and other gambling platforms in India. The CM took this step after an unfortunate incident surfaced online where a 38-year-old person died of suicide. The victim ran a mobile shop in Korkadu village near Puducherry. Let’s check out more details around this case and the call to ban select online games in India here.
Calls for ban on select 'online games', details
According to a comprehensive report from Indian Express, the person in question decided to take this extreme step after losing “more than 30 lakh rupees”. The report noted that the person suffered this loss in an online rummy game. Minutes before taking the extreme step, he sent out a WhatsApp voice note to his wife. Since the incident, the unfortunate voice note has gone viral in the area prompting calls around the ban. The person used the voice note to inform his wife about the incident including the monetary loss. He went on to state that he played the game “day and night” while admitting that he got addicted to the game. Furthermore, the voice note noted that he was not able to concentrate on his work and wanted to play the game again.
It is also worth noting that the victim asked his wife to circulate the audio clip on “all social media platforms”. In addition, the clip also asked for a call on online games like Rummy. The report notes that the victim started playing the game to pass time during the lockdown. He initially won about a thousand in the game which pushed him to invest more money in the game. But he lost all the money and started borrowing money in hopes to recover the loss. In the end, he lost all the savings while amassing
The wife of the victim noted that she did not know that the victim had lost such a significant amount of money. In fact, just hours before the extreme step, he had called his friends to ask for one lakh rupees. Beyond the CM, DMK MP, Dr. Senthilkumar also wrote a similar letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad making a similar demand.
The core problem and misidentifying gambling as gaming
The problem here is that multiple mobile games that involve real money have made their foothold in the Indian market. This transaction of real money turns these games away from traditional games into more around gambling platforms. Players are expected to continue to invest money to get a return for their investment of time. However, these platforms that encourage gambling are still disguised as 'games' even though they are quite removed from the sense of games. Some of these 'games' include Poker, Quizzing, and Fantasy prediction. We have seen several reports in the past where online players have spent a significant amount of money on online games. We would recommend players to stay away from any transaction which involves real money in online games.
Update: Edited the article to elaborate on the difference between the online games mentioned in the report which serve as gambling platforms and actual games.