'Most Players Are Teenagers, Want To Protect This Vulnerable Class': State Tells Madras HC In Online Gaming Companies' Plea Against Night Ban

While opposing a plea online by gaming companies against State government's regulations on online gaming, the Tamil Nadu government told the Madras High Court on Friday (April 4) that the State has a parental right over its people and was duty bound to take care of the health of its people.It further submitted that most of the players were teenagers between 14-16 years and hence it wanted to protect this vulnerable class of people. The government was making submissions before the bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice K Rajasekar in the plea challenging the Government's night ban and mandatory KYC verification on online gaming companies brought in through the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act 2022 along with the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (Real Money Games) Regulations 2025. Advocate General PS Raman argued that even as per the earlier orders of the court, the State had a power to bring in regulations for the health of the people. Arguing that the state had a parental right, the AG submitted that this right had to be exercised for the larger good of the people. He thus argued that the restrictions brought in by the State were reasonable restrictions and were protected under Articles 19(2) and 19(6) of the Constitution. “Restriction are within Article 19(1) and Article 19(6). There's no disproportionality in restricting it in the night hours. We have parental rights. We have to exercise the right for larger public good as long as it is valid,” Raman said. On the point of insistence on Aadhaar, Raman argued that Aadhar was the only document which provided a two-step verification process by sending an OTP to the registered mobile number. He argued that if any other document was allowed, there was a possibility that a minor could access the documents and misuse it by using it to play the games. On the other hand, by insisting on Aadhaar, it would become difficult for the minors to misuse the documents unless they have access to the registered mobile number also. Adding to the submissions, Additional Advocate General for Tamil Nadu in Supreme Court Amit Anand Tiwari said that while it was easy for the players to argued that they had a right to ruin their health, the State had to step in when the same ended up affecting the society. Tiwari submitted that personal loss of the player ends up becoming the loss of the family and eventually the society, necessitating intervention by the State. “Most of the players are between ages 14 and 16. They are vulnerable class of people whom we want to protect. We don't want them to go and waste money. It's easy to say that I'm destroying myself, but why does the State care? But personal loss becomes the family and society's loss. So we have to interfere,” Tiwari said. Tiwari argued that the State was accessing the Aadhar data only to verify the age of the players, ensuring that minors were not playing the game. he added that by choosing to play the game through an online medium, the players were choosing their convenience, and for this convenience, some inconvenience would exist. “There's no complete prohibition on player's gaming. For me, its difficult to verify. Authority is not asking all your personal details. Not asking your biometrics. Just asking you to punch your Aadhaar. Thereafter, there's no prevention in playing. You're choosing your convenience for playing online. There might be some inconvenience for that convenience. Puttaswamy does not ban sharing data for user convenience,” Tiwari argued. Tiwai also submitted that the regulation was not related to trade and commerce as argued by the petitioner companies but on the basis of health, on which the State had powers to regulate. The state also argued that in the previous litigations, the courts have upheld the State's right to impose time limits, monetary limits, etc, through regulations by way of Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022. The State also argued that even though IT Rules were in place, no self-regulatory body had been notified by the Ministry as per Rule 4A, and thus, it could not be said that there was an occupied field. The State further argued that even if there was an overlap between the Central and the State law, it would not render the State law repugnant as both would co-exist. After hearing the State's submissions, the court has adjourned the case to April 7 for the petitioner's reply. Case title: Play Games 24x7 Private Limited And Anr Vs State Of Tamil Nadu And Ors & Connected Matters Case No: WP 6784 of 2025

'Most Players Are Teenagers, Want To Protect This Vulnerable Class': State Tells Madras HC In Online Gaming Companies' Plea Against Night Ban

Upasana Sajeev

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