This comes after the legislation it enacted last year was partly set aside by the High Court on Monday.
Home minister Araga Jnanendra told ET that his department would rather prefer to have a new law in place than appealing against the judgement.
“…nothing in this judgment shall be construed to prevent an appropriate legislation being brought about concerning the subject i.e., ‘Betting & gambling’ in accordance with provisions of the Constitution,” a division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Krishna S Dixit had said in their 123-page judgment.
The government, Jnanendra said, is studying the judgment in detail, especially the sections of the law that the court said were not in conformity with the Constitution.
“We would prefer to rectify these shortcomings, and work on an alternative draft that would stand in a court of law,” the home minister said.
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The state government has the option of appealing before the Supreme Court.
The home department would prefer to keep that as the last option, top officials said.
“The government has received several requests from families of victims to ban online betting and gambling in online games. They say it has ruined them financially,” Jnanendra said.
The government, he added, remains committed to banning it with appropriate legislation.
The subject, official sources said, is expected to figure in discussions at the highest level in the government, including by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and, probably, the Cabinet.
The government is currently busy with the ongoing Assembly session, and its stand will become clear either in the next few days or after the session ends.
The online gaming law, which came into force in October last year after amendments to the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, was being administered by the police department till it was struck down.
A number of online gaming firms, including the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), had mounted a legal challenge. They have hailed Monday’s verdict.
Advocate General Prabhulinga Navadgi said since a policy approach to online gambling may also require views from the law and IT/BT departments, the government is expected to take a final call only after hearing out the two departments.
Appeals against adverse judgments have always been a default option for the government, an official source said, adding that a clear picture in this case will emerge only after a few days.
On Monday, the court quashed the amendments to Sections 2, 78, 87, 128(a) and 17(b) of the 1963 Act that dealt with definition of online gaming and wagering, operators and penalty and punishments for any offences committed under these sections.
By these amendments, the government had made offences under the online gaming law cognizable and non-bailable.
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