Tamil Nadu had the legislative competence to enact its controversial ban on online gambling in the state, observed the state government in what appears to be its counter-affidavit filed in the ongoing gaming industry-led challenge against the law in the Madras High Court. The affidavit was shared with MediaNama by multiple sources. We have also reached out to multiple government officials to confirm its authenticity. Filed by gaming industry associations and companies in April before the Madras High Court, the petition, as recalled in the counter-affidavit, argued that the southern state lacked the legislative competence to ban online games of skill on the law, which typically lies outside states' purviews. Remember: states have powers to regulate gambling and betting, which typically comprise games of chance. The ban also affected the online gaming companies' rights to carry out business, held under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. Experts separately questioned many of the state's approaches to regulating the sector. Earlier this week, the Madras High Court declined interim relief to the gaming companies, preferring to take up the petitions for final hearings as the arguments made in both interim and final proceedings would be identical. Gaming companies (represented by Mukul Rohatgi and Abhishek Manu Singhvi) will argue their case on July 13th, after which the Tamil Nadu government (represented by Kapil Sibal), may reply on July 20th. The Madras High Court had previously struck down a similar state-wide ban on online gambling in August 2021 on similar grounds of legislative overreach and infringement of…
