Madras HC already upheld T.N. govt’s right to fix time, age and monetary limit for online games: TN Home Secretary informs

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The Tamil Nadu government informed the Madras High Court that the Court has already upheld the State government’s right to fix time, age and monetary limit for playing online real money games (RMG) in a decision rendered in November 2023. The statement came in the counter affidavit filed by the state government in a petition challenging the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (Real Money Games) Regulations, 2025. The matter is heard by first Division Bench comprising the then Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu.

The Home Secretary further informed the court that the TNOGA regulations were framed only after holding discussions with all stakeholders, including online gaming companies, and therefore, they could not be challenged on the ground of failure to obtain stakeholders’ opinion.

He said that the regulations prohibited all minors under the age of 18 from playing online RMG, make Know Your Customer (KYC) verification mandatory for creation of an account to play online games and insist on KYC verification for the initial login with Aadhaar to be authenticated by a second layer verification of One Time Password (OTP) sent to the phone number linked with the Aadhaar. Further, TNOGA had made it mandatory for online gaming companies to display pop-up caution messages when a player plays continuously for more than an hour.

The matter is now scheduled for a next hearing on March 27, giving the Union of India and other parties time to file their counter-affidavits. The petitioners were also permitted to file a rejoinder.

Notably, Delhi NCR based WinZO Games attempted to implead in the case, but the request was rejected. The court, however, stated that WinZO was free to file a fresh writ petition if they chose to pursue a separate legal challenge.

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