(4) Any person desiring to obtain a License shall make an application in writing to the State Government, in such form and manner as may be prescribed. On receipt of such application, the State Government may, after making such inquiry as it considers necessary, by order in writing, either grant the License or refuse to grant the License:
Provided that, where the State Government refuses to grant a License, it shall put on its record a brie
S.5 Duration of License
- (1) A License, unless it is cancelled or surrendered, shall remain in force for five years from the date of grant of License.
- (2) The holder of a License may surrender the License by notice in writing to the Licensing Authority prior to the expiry of the License.
- (3) The cancellation, surrender or expiry of a License shall not affect any liability for anything done or omitted to be done by the Licensee before the date on which the License ceases to have effect.
S.6 Renewal or refusal to renew
The Licensing Authority may, on application made to it, renew the License granted under this Act, on fulfilment of conditions prescribed for renewal of the License or refuse to renew any such License by a speaking order disclosing the reasons for such refusal.
S.7 License Fees, Renewal Fee and Royalty
- (1) An applicant for the License shall pay to the Licensing Authority such fee as may be prescribed for the grant of the License.
- (2) The Licensee shall pay to the Licensing Authority, an amount known as "Gaming Royalty" notified by the State Government from time to time, at such intervals and in such manner as may be prescribed.
- (3) The Licensee shall pay to the Licensing Authority a renewal fee as may be prescribed at the time of renewal of License.
S.8 Variation of Conditions of License
- (1) The Licensing Authority may, on application by the Licensee or on its own motion vary the conditions of the License by adding a prescribed description of Gaming to, or deleting a description of Gaming from, the descriptions specified in the License.
- (2) The Licensing Authority may, on application by the Licensee or on its own motion, vary or cancel any condition specified in the License.
- (3) A variation of a License or of a condition of a License, made otherwise than on application by the Licensee shall not have effect until the expiration of twenty one days from the date on which notice of the variation is given to the applicant, or where an appeal is made against such variation, until the said appeal is decided.
- (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (3) above, a variation of condition of the License made by the Licensing Authority necessitated on the ground of change or amendment of the provisions of this Act or the rules framed
S.9 Transfer of License
- (1) The Licensing Authority may, on an application by the Licensee, transfer the License to a person specified in the application, subject to compliance with all requirements by the transferee for grant of License prescribed in this Act and the rules framed thereunder
- (2) Such a transfer shall be endorsed on the License by the Licensing Authority.
S.10 Marketing and promotion
- (1) The Licensee shall intimate to the Licensing Authority of all regular promotional activities, including registration bonus, bonus deposits and free play.
- (2) The Licensee shall, conduct tournaments and competitions for its players either online through the authorized website or at physical locations anywhere in the State, only with prior approval of the Licensing Authority.
- (3) If the tournament or competition is being held at a physical premise, the Licensee shall be responsible for obtaining the necessary approvals from the district administration and other authorities as required in law.
- (4) The Licensee may, with prior permission of the Licensing Authority as prescribed under the Rules, provide Games of Skills and Games of Chance Licensed under this Act, for a specified period of time and for specified purpose, to any other person or company. For the purpose of calculating the Royalty, the Gross Gaming Revenue of the Licensee shall include t
S.11 Exhibition of conditions of license by licensee
The Licensee shall exhibit a copy of License at the approved website and the physical premise where the gaming is being conducted.
S.12 Licensee to keep accounts
- (1) The Licensee under this Act shall keep accounts of Gaming in such manner as may be prescribed.
- (2) The Licensee shall submit to the Licensing Authority or to an officer authorized by the State Government a statement of accounts in such form and at such intervals as may be prescribed.
S.13 Suspension, cancellation of license and forfeiture of security deposit
- (1) The Licensing Authority may, on the advice of the Commissioner, suspend the License if the Commissioner has reason to believe that the Licensee has acted in violation of any provision of this Act or the Rules made thereunder or any conditions of the License; or the Commissioner has reason to believe that the License has been obtained by furnishing incorrect information which the Licensee knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, may initiate the procedure for cancellation of License and if the Licensing Authority deems fit, it may also suspend the License with immediate effect till the decision on the issue of cancellation of License is taken by the Licensing Authority.
- (2) After following the procedure as may be prescribed in the Rules, if it is found by the Licensing Authority that the Licensee has violated any provision of this Act or the Rules made thereunder or any conditions of the License or where the License was found to have been obta
S.14 Offences and Penalties under this Act
- (1) Where a Licensee, or any person acting on its behalf, has acted in contravention or violation of any provision of this Act or the Rules made thereunder or any conditions of the License, he shall be liable for a penalty not exceeding rupees two lakh.
- (2) Where any Player while playing any Games of Skill and Games of Chance at the approved website or physical premises, Licensed under this Act commits a breach of any of the conditions of the License as exhibited, or of the rules to be observed in playing such games, he shall be liable for a penalty not exceeding rupees ten thousand for the first three violations and thereafter, he shall be prohibited from participation in gaming under the Act for a period of not less than three years and entry of such person shall also be prohibited into the physical premises of the Licensee.
- (3) Where the Licensee, or any person acting on its behalf, has been found to have obtained the License by furnishing incorrect infor
S.15 Power to recover losses
In addition to the power to levy fine or penalty, if the Licensee or any other persons who have violated the provisions of this Act, rules made thereunder and conditions of license which have caused loss to the State Government, the Adjudicating Officer shall have power to recover losses and compensation from the Licensee or such other persons.
S.16 Offences by Company
Where any offence has been committed by a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of and was responsible, for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence as above and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished in accordance with the provisions of this Act:
Provided that nothing contained in this section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such violation of statutory provisions or the conditions of the License:
Provided further that notwithstanding anything contained in the first proviso to this section, where it is proved that an offence under this Act has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretar
S.17 Compounding of offences
S.18 Adjudicating Officer and its Powers
- (1) The State Government shall, for adjudicating the offences related to contravention or violation of the provisions of this Act, the Rules framed thereunder or that of the conditions of the License except that under sub-section (8) of section 14 of this Act, shall appoint, by notification in the Official Gazette, an Adjudicating Officer not below the rank of Commissioner of Taxes.
- (2) The Adjudicating Officer shall, while adjudicating the offences prescribed under this Act, including those prescribed under sub-section (1) above, have all the powers of a civil court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and in particular in respect of the following matters, namely:
- (i) summoning and enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath;
- (ii) discovery and production of any document;
- (iii) receiving evidence on affidavits;
- (iv) requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court o
S.19 Responsibility of the license holder for compliance of Central and State Acts and Rules
Without prejudice to the provisions of this Act, the onus of compliance to various central and state Acts and Rules including but not limited to The Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999, Current Account Rules of the Reserve Bank of India, the Information Technology Act 2000, Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, the Young Person's (Harmful Publications) Act 1986, Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the Indian Contract Act 1872, Consumer Protection Act, 1986, the Copyright Act, 1957, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Patents Act, 1970, the Prize Competitions Act, 1955, The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, The Meghalaya Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970 shall be on the L
S.20 Non-liability of the Government
The State Government shall not be liable for payment of any dividend or award or reward by whatever name called to any winner or participant of any gaming event or to the holder of any winning ticket which evidenced receipt of stake money.
S.21 Best Judgment assessment in certain cases
Where an officer authorized by the State Government in this behalf is not satisfied about the correctness or completeness of the accounts kept by the Licensee or where the Licensee fails to submit any statement of accounts as required by this Act, the said officer shall after giving a reasonable opportunity to the Licensee to be heard and after taking into account all relevant materials which he may have gathered, make the assessment of the royalty payable by the Licensee to the best of his judgment and call upon the Licensee by order in writing to pay the amount of royalty so assessed on or before such date as may be specified in the order.
S.22 Appeals
- (a) An appeal against the order made by the 'Adjudicating Officer' or any other authorised officer under this Act shall be made to the State Government, within a period of forty five days of communication of the said order, whose decision shall be final and binding.
S.23 Recovery of fines or Penalty
Where any fine or penalty imposed on any person under this Act is not paid within six months from the day of imposition of fine or penalty, the Adjudicating Officer or any other officer authorized by him in this behalf may proceed to recover the amount from the said person in the same manner as prescribed in Schedule II of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) for the recovery of arrears and he or any officer authorized by him in this behalf shall have all the powers of the Tax Recovery Officer mentioned in the said Schedule for the said purpose.
S.24 Power to require production of accounts or to inspect accounts
The State Government or the Commissioner of Taxes or any Authorized Officer under this Act may, for the purposes of this Act, at all reasonable times require the Licensee to produce before it or him accounts or other documents or to furnish any other information, or inspect the accounts of the Licensee.
S.25 Power of entry, search, and seizure
- (1) It shall be lawful for the Authorised Officer, or any other officer not below the rank of Inspector of Taxes, authorized in writing by the State Government in this behalf:-
- (i) to enter, if necessary, by force, whether by day or night, or with such assistants as he considers necessary, at any premises where he has reasonable cause to believe that any provision of this Act or the rules made there under have been or are being or are likely to be contravened or a breach of any of the conditions of the License is or is likely to be committed;
- (ii) to search such premises and the persons whom he may find therein;
- (iii) with the assistance of any police officer not below the rank of an Inspector of Police, to take into custody and produce before the Judicial Magistrate of the First Class ad such persons as are concerned or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion
S.26 Protection of action taken in good faith
No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the State Government or any officer of the Government or any other person exercising any powers or discharging any functions or performing any duties under this Act for anything done or intended to be done under this Act or any rule or order made there under in good faith.
S.27 The Meghalaya Gaming Commission
S.28 Powers and functions of the Meghalaya Gaming Commission
- (1) The Meghalaya Gaming Commission shall have the following powers:
- (i) to issue policy directions for regulating games of skill and games of chance to be played in fair and transparent manner.
- (ii) to monitor and submit periodic report to the State Government of the activities of all Licensees to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Act.
- (iii) to act as Dispute Redressal body for disputes between the players and the Licensee.
- (2) The policy directions issued by the Meghalaya Gaming Commission shall, after approval of the State Government, be binding on all concerned.
S.29 Power to make rules
- (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, and subject to the condition of previous application, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act
- (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:
- (i) The form and manner of making application for the License and the fees to be paid for its grant or renewal and the conditions subject to which it may be granted;
- (ii) The Gaming royalty to be paid by the Licensee to the State Government;
- (iii) The manner of keeping accounts relating to Games of Skills and Games of Chance, the other particulars to be shown in the accounts, and the form in which and the intervals at which they shall be submitted to the State Government, or to the authorized officer;
- (iv) The other restrictions or conditions with regard to the age or other conditions of the pe
S.30 Power to remove difficulties
S.31 Repeal & Savings
- (1) The Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Ordinance, 2021 (Meghalaya Ordinance No. 1 of 2021) is hereby repealed.
- (2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the provisions of this Act
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