The saying goes that history repeats itself—and that's certainly the case for India's skill-based online gaming industry. For the second time in six months, the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) has petitioned the Madras High Court to declare Tamil Nadu's newly-notified law banning gambling as unconstitutional, reports MoneyControl. AIGF had previously challenged the law last November but withdrew the challenge around December as the law hadn't been notified at the time (or, it hadn't come into effect). "The Court allowed AIGF and other petitioners to approach it when it is notified," AIGF CEO Roland Landers told MediaNama at the time. Gaming companies Gameskraft, Games24x7, and Head Digital Works have joined the industry association's challenge this time around. The High Court agreed to hear the case today. The industry body is also seeking an interim stay on the law. The writ petition adds that the state lacks the legislative competence to draft the law. The law "disregards over six decades of established legal jurisprudence and seems to be based on a completely wrong understating of technology," Landers told MoneyControl. Landers isn't alone in this thinking. As Malay Kumar Shukla, Secretary of the industry body, the E-Gaming Federation, told MediaNama yesterday: The E-Gaming Federation sent repeated requests and representations to the Tamil Nadu government exploring the possibility of establishing a framework that will regulate the gaming sector as a whole and the skill gaming sector in particular. However, we as an industry were never given a chance to interact with the committee constituted by the government and present…
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