Online gaming firms on Friday (September 26, 2025) advised the Supreme Court of India that their “businesses are shut down” owing to the brand new legislation which bans actual cash video games, associated banking companies and ads. They sought pressing listening to and interim reduction from the implementation of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025.
Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai agreed to record the case quickly. The court docket re-opens after Dussehra break on October 6.
The authorities has argued that the legislation was essential to curb the fast mushrooming of on-line cash video games creating “serious risks for individuals, families and the nation.”
While acknowledging the numerous advantages of digital know-how, the federal government has maintained that on-line cash video games have additionally exploited loopholes within the legislation and brought on deep social hurt.
Speaking within the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw stated an estimated 45 crore folks have been negatively affected by on-line cash video games and confronted a lack of greater than ₹20,000 crore taking part in them.
On September 8, 2025, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala had transferred to the apex court docket separate petitions difficult the legislation, pending scattered throughout numerous State High Courts, together with Delhi, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
The counsel mentioning the case on behalf of the web gaming firms on Friday (September 26, 2025) stated the switch to the highest court docket was accomplished on a request from the Centre. “Now, we seek an urgent listing… Businesses are shut down because of the Act,” she stated.
Cutting off on-line gaming with the scissors of prohibition
The Centre had obtained the petitions transferred on the bottom that a number of proceedings earlier than the assorted High Courts would add to the confusion, particularly if the judgments contradict one another. An authoritative pronouncement from the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the statute, however, would settle the legislation. The Centre had argued that the problem raised a number of questions of constitutional significance.
The writ petitions filed by on-line platforms and stakeholders within the High Courts have argued that the legislation was a violation of the appropriate to equality and freedom of expression, federalism and the settled distinction drawn between video games of talent and people of likelihood.
The authorities has argued that the legislature can’t be a mute spectator when on-line cash gaming platforms elevate severe issues owing to experiences of habit, monetary losses, cash laundering, and even instances of lack of lives linked to heavy financial losses. Many gamers lose their total financial savings chasing the phantasm of fast earnings. Families have been pushed into debt and misery, the federal government has stated in an official assertion coping with the explanations for enacting the legislation.
The Centre has argued that investigations have revealed that “some gaming platforms were being used for terror financing and illegal messaging, which compromise the country’s security.”
Besides, it acknowledged that playing and betting have been already restricted beneath Indian legal guidelines such because the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and by numerous State legislations. The on-line area had remained largely unregulated. The Bill ensured uniform requirements apply in each bodily and digital areas.