Suuree it's to "wean citizens away from the vice of gambling" BUT "it does not include lottery or wagering or betting on horse races run on any race course within or outside the state." It's not for the sake of people, but for money, to keep the money flowing to lottery and horse races. #Feelsbadman for Karnataka slots players!
I think you guys can still get away with a VPN, but DWYOR.
Good lord VPN! No
I am not from Karnataka and I don't even live in India but I do know some stuff about Indian government, one of it is "they never respect privacy and are always tracking the people down"
Therefore I do think that at the end of the day the government might already do put schemes in place to make sure things like that does not happen, so using VPN is something that I would not recommend. They are choosing things like horse racing which is honestly very cruel, did you even see the news where a horse died in the hurdle race instantly. This is just ridiculous. Who is poker harming?? ( Addiction is personal)
A ban is the first step and regulation is the next. It seems the state doesn't have the means to enforce taxes on any of these online platforms that is why they are trying to scare the gamblers. This is a challenge to many governments right now and it's not only in India that online gambling is prohibited.
Seems like the government of India is trying to ban things incompletely since they really want to be able to earn more profits from things like horse racing which is absolutely ridiculous, if you are banning something then why not ban it fully? It's just one state though, let's see how it goes.