While police have been registering cases of online gambling upon receiving complaints until now, the police will now track down the organisers organising such illegal games.
According to the officer commanding of Thimphu Police, Major Gyembo Penjor, online gambling trend continues to get rampant besides many notifications by the police. He said since it is difficult to track down all the participants involved in a game, police will arrest and detain the organisers.
Shillong Teer, an online lottery is one of the many online games that are becoming rampant in the country. An individual forms a group on any social media platforms after which around 100 members in the group selects a sheet/number each. The individual members then place bets after which a winner is selected. The organiser declares the winner as per the number from Shillong Teer announced through their website. The organiser credits the prize money to the winner after keeping about 15 to 20 per cent of the collected money themselves.
Recently another case of online gambling has been registered against a woman. While all cases of online gambling have been of online lottery till now, police said other online games playing on stake or money are also illegal. According to the Penal Code of Bhutan, Gambling is a petty misdemeanour with a maximum prison term of less than a year.
* Section 393: “A defendant shall be guilty of the offence of gambling if the defendant stakes or wagers something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the defendant’s control or influence upon an agreement or understanding that the defendant will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.” The offence of gambling shall be a petty misdemeanour.
