NEW DELHI – After passing in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Indian Parliament has given its final approval to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. The new law, which makes all types of online money games illegal, has gotten both praise from the government and outrage from the gaming sector.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi used social media to celebrate the bill’s passing. He said it “shows our commitment to making India a center for gaming, innovation, and creativity.” He went on to say that the measure would “promote e-sports and online social games” while “protecting our society from the bad effects of online money games.”
Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, introduced the bill. It divides internet gaming into three groups:
E-sports: A real, skill-based sport that people compete in. The measure lets the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports make rules for competitions, set up training academies, and promote the industry.
Online social gaming is when people play digital games for fun or to improve their skills without any money or stakes involved. The government will help these games by recognizing, supporting, and promoting them.
Online Money Gaming: This type of game, in which players put money in with the hope of winning cash or other stakes, will be fully forbidden. The ban covers both skill and chance games, as well as their advertising and money transactions.
The government thinks that the benefits of banning online money games, which are said to cause addiction, financial devastation, and mental health problems, are greater than the costs. Minister Vaishnaw said that Indian citizens had lost an estimated ₹20,000 crore and said that these kinds of games are a “public health risk.”
The law sets harsh punishments for breaking it. You might go to jail for up to three years and have to pay a fine of up to ₹1 crore if you offer or help people play money games online. If you advertise these kinds of games, you could go to jail for two years and have to pay a fine of up to ₹50 lakh. The bill also gives officials the right to shut down illicit gambling sites and, in some situations, search and arrest people without a warrant.
The online gaming business, which has put millions of crores into India, has spoken out about its worries. Industry groups have said that the blanket prohibition may cause the loss of more than 200,000 employment, the closing of more than 400 businesses, and an increase in unregulated gambling outside the US. Legal experts have also said that the bill’s constitutionality could be questioned because courts have already made a distinction between games of skill and games of chance. But the government has said that it is a “societal decision” meant to keep people safe.