The government is making a new law to prevent gambling. For this reason, the Public Security Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs has drafted the new ‘Gambling Act, 2023’. Basically, the new law is being updated by ‘The Public Grambling Act’ of 1867. Online gambling is included in the new law. Because billions of dollars are being lost through online gambling; Many are destitute in the clutches of gambling. Clashes and murders are also taking place over online gambling. Match-fixing is also heard loudly, so this issue is also included in the draft law. The draft law makes gambling punishable with imprisonment for a maximum of three years or a fine of Tk 5 lakh or both. The maximum penalty under the previous law was a fine of Rs 500 and three months imprisonment. However, if the government wants to, tourism or specialized areas, any hotel or club can be exempted from the scope of this law, it has been informed in the draft.
According to Home Ministry sources, a six-member committee was convened by Public Security Department Additional Secretary Lipika Bhadra to update the Gambling Act of 1867. The committee submitted the draft law last February.
Officials of the Public Security Department said that now the opinions of the ministries are being taken on the draft law. The draft will be finalized in an inter-ministerial meeting soon and sent to the Cabinet Department for Cabinet approval. According to the Law and Order Division of the Public Security Department, the current gambling law is more than 150 years old. It is not possible to prevent current gambling with this law. Because now the issue of information technology has been added to gambling, which is not covered by the law. At the same time the punishment is very less. So new laws are being made keeping in mind the modern stages of gambling. At the same time, the punishment is being increased several times.
In this regard, the additional secretary of the public security department of the Ministry of Home Affairs, SM Rezaul Mustafa Kamal said, “We have made a draft of the new gambling law and sent it to various stakeholders or ministries. Received feedback from many ministries. After receiving some more views, I will hold an inter-ministerial meeting and send the draft to the Cabinet Division for final approval. We hope to hold an inter-ministerial meeting soon. He said, “We are keeping online gambling, gambling with games – all things in the new law.” As the old law is being modernized, we will incorporate whatever is there in the light of 2023.”
According to the draft law, ‘gambling’ shall mean any form of betting without the sanction of the Government or the District Magistrate, any form of competitive house for money or goods, any form of lottery, any game of fortune or a combination of luck and skill in exchange for money or any goods of monetary value. . Definitions of ‘baji (betting)’ and ‘bookie’ are also given in the draft law. The draft law states that cash or non-cash banking transactions (eg debit cards, credit cards etc.) or mobile banking transactions (eg. – Bikash, Rocket, Cash, Waya, PayPal etc.) or any other cryptocurrency including Bit Coin etc. or any other electronic or digital medium will constitute online betting or gambling. Also registers or hosts online betting site or account for own or other use or acts as a gambling agent or uses the account of a person residing in the country or abroad for monthly rent or any other commitment or operates website or social media for consultation for this purpose. However, it is mentioned in the draft that online gambling will also be covered.
The draft states that ‘match-fixing’ shall mean the act of predetermining the outcome of a competitive game or part of a game and shall include spot fixing (immediately fixing the result of a game or part of a game). According to the draft law, those involved in online betting can be jailed for up to three years or fined up to Tk 3 lakh or both. Any player, organizer or other person participating in a rigging game or betting to rig the game shall be an offense under this Act. In this case, a maximum of two years in jail or a maximum of Tk 2 lakh fine or both shall be punished in the draft. According to the draft law, anyone who exchanges money for the purpose of gambling in a public place, house, tent, room, compound, walled area or vehicle or through electronic or digital means will be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of three years or a fine of up to 5 lakh rupees or with both.
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