Hyderabad, March 26 The Telangana government will constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to curb betting apps and online betting, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced on Wednesday.
Speaking in the Assembly, he asserted that the government has decided to not only be alert about betting apps, online betting and online Rummy games but also act tough against them.
He said the SIT would decide on the required steps to be taken to curb or ban the betting apps.
Revanth Reddy was responding to a demand by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) member T. Harish Rao that the government should take stringent action against online betting and betting apps, as poor people were suffering.
Harish Rao voiced concern that the menace of online betting was leading to suicides by many youngsters in the state.
Revanth Reddy recalled that the previous government in 2017 brought a law to ban online gambling and betting, but it failed to effectively implement the same.
He noted that in recent times, online betting has grown rapidly. Stating that various individuals and organisations at the national and international level were part of the crime, he said the problem couldn’t be addressed with an investigation by a police station. Hence, the state government decided to constitute the SIT.
The Chief Minister said he would constitute the SIT after talks with the officials concerned.
As the existing legislation provides a maximum sentence of only two years for those found involved, he said, if necessary, the law will be amended in the next session to ensure stringent punishment to organisers and all others involved. He believes that harsh punishment would act as a deterrent to crime.
Referring to the cases registered against some actors and social media influencers for promoting betting apps, Revanth Reddy said that merely questioning those promoting online betting would not help in finding a solution.
The Chief Minister also voiced concern over the supply of gutka and other banned products and said the government has decided to act firmly.
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