Parliament passes Online Gaming Bill amid protests from Opposition

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday cleared the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 with out dialogue, a day after its passage within the Lok Sabha.

The mentioned Bill bans all on-line video games performed with cash, in a bid to curb habit, cash laundering, suicides and monetary fraud linked to such platforms.

The laws, handed by voice vote amid opposition protests, prohibits not simply the providing of on-line cash video games but in addition their ads. It additional bars banks and monetary establishments from facilitating or transferring funds for these actions.

Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw made temporary remarks earlier than the Bill’s passage.

The authorities has additionally highlighted that the Bill goals on the ‘better good’ for the society. According to a PTI report, the Centre has estimated that round 45 crore individuals lose near Rs 20,000 crore yearly in on-line actual cash gaming. Meanwhile, the net gaming trade has warned that the proposed Bill banning all actual cash video games might kill over two lakh jobs, shut down 400 firms, and harm India’s digital innovation. Industry our bodies mentioned the sector, valued at ₹2 lakh crore with ₹31,000 crore income and ₹20,000 crore in taxes, faces a “death knell” if the legislation is handed.

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S Krishnan, secretary on the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), instructed ET that the federal government’s method is to attract a line between innovation and exploitation. “The government is of the view that India has the potential to be the gaming hub of the world with many game developers and creators thriving. For this, the legitimate areas within online gaming need to be delineated, recognised and promoted; that is esports and online social games—both educational and recreational. The other real concern is online money gaming. These games involve staking money with uncertain outcomes, often blurring the line between skill and chance. They carry risks of addiction, money laundering and misuse through cryptocurrency. Regular online gaming, esports and creative gaming are not the problem; we want to encourage those.”

He added that the brand new legislation goals to separate dangerous practices from real gaming innovation. “Our position is clear: we are drawing a line between promoting innovation and esports on one side and regulating exploitative money gaming on the other. The aim is to safeguard people while also strengthening India’s gaming ecosystem.”

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Krishnan underlined that esports and different recognised codecs will proceed to obtain help. “Esports, like chess and other globally recognised games, fall under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The government has also been actively promoting the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) sector through initiatives like the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies in Mumbai and the Centres of Excellence under Software Technology Parks of India. These will continue. Our restrictions are aimed only at harmful money games.”

According to the Bill, any on-line cash recreation, the place customers deposit cash in expectation of financial or materials reward, will now be outlawed. This contains fantasy sports activities, card video games corresponding to poker and rummy, on-line lotteries, and different betting or playing platforms.

Once the legislation is cleared by each Houses of Parliament, providing or facilitating such video games will entice imprisonment of as much as three years and/or a effective of as much as ₹1 crore.