India bans real-money games; here's what it means

Both Houses of Parliament has cleared The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. The Lok Sabha passed the bill on Wednesday, August 20 which was subsequently cleared by Rajya Sabha the next day. It has now been sent to the President for her assent.

The Bill is aimed to protect Indian citizens "from the menace of online money games" and promote esports and online social games instead.

Parliament passes new Bill banning real-money games

This Bill saw immediate effects as real-money gaming platforms suspended the operations after the passing of the Bill. These platforms include WinZO, Dream11, Mobile Premiere League (MPL) and Moonshine Technologies (PokerBaazi).

In a statement, PokerBaazi said, "While this chapter pauses here, we remain hopeful that the future will once again allow us to celebrate the game we all love".

In real-money games, akin to gambling, people wager their own money in anticipation of winning more money or cash prizes. Since such games involve money that the player has to deposit, they have very high stakes. Oftentimes, it leads to loss of huge amounts of money.

India's popular online gaming industry currently has a value of 320 crore. However, despite the booming success, the new Bill, if turned into law, will criminalise popular betting and gaming platforms like My11Circle, card games including poker and other online lotteries.

Banks and financial institutions will also not be allowed to enable online transactions on these platforms. Moreover, according to reports, the online real-money platforms have also begun laying off employees.

Now, Parliament will await President Droupadi Murmu's assent for the Bill to become an Act.

Apps banned previously

Earlier on June 29, 2020, the Government of India had blocked access to 59 mobile apps and on September 2, 2020, 118 more apps were banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act, including very popular ones like TikTok. Later on November 20, 43 more apps were banned.

Last month, the central government had ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms and associated mobile applications, including known ones like ALTBalaji and Ullu, for allegedly showcasing obscenity, vulgarity, and in at times ‘pornographic’ content.

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