Panaji, Jul 31 (IANS): Goa Opposition MLA Vijai Sardesai on Monday demanded to pull down hoardings of illegal casinos and illegal online gaming, claiming it is the best solution to curb the menace.

Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai said that advertisements of these illegal businesses should be stopped.

“Hoardings of online gaming and illegal casinos should be pulled down from all the sites. If advertisements are stopped, then people will not come to know about it. First solution is to stop the advertisements,” Sardesai told media person.

Opposition MLAs in the state assembly have said that youth fall prey to online gaming and commit suicide when they lose and have asked the government to crackdown on illegal online gaming.

They said that online gaming and illegal casinos is an illegal business of around Rs 30 crore per day in the state where people lose money.

Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao had suggested bringing an Act like in Tamil Nadu, where it becomes easy to curb the illegal online games and gambling.

He stressed that the law should be enforced to take action against these online gamblers. Other MLAs from the opposition benches also raised their voices against the trend and urged the government to take action.

Replying to the opposition, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that online gaming is a serious issue and his government is taking steps to curb it.

He assured the House of studying the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling Act to curb the illegal activities going on in the coastal state.

“I will ask the officials to study the Tamil Nadu Act and if needed we will also implement it in Goa. I assure you strict action will be taken against kiosks running (illegal casino) machines. These cases are mostly in the coastal belt. In the rural areas people use mobiles (for online gaming),” the Chief Minister said.