The Lok Sabha on Wednesday has passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, which cracks down on real money-based gaming while supporting e-sports and online social games.
The legislation prohibits advertising or endorsements of platforms facilitating online games that involve monetary transactions. It proposes to bar banks, as well as non-banking financial bodies, from facilitating any transaction involving online money games. According to sources, the decision followed three and a half years of deliberations.
The rise of in-app purchases, virtual currencies and reward systems has only blurred these legal boundaries further, creating the need for a centralised framework.
Concerns like addiction among children and youth, mental health issues, financial losses, cross-border and inter-state operations facilitating in some cases of money laundering and terror financing form some of the focal points of the Bill, said sources on the matter.
The law was prompted by an estimated Rs 20,000 crore losses borne by players annually and a rising tide of social distress linked it, government sources told NDTV Profit.
Widespread social distress, including family violence, bankruptcies, and even suicides, along with strong representations from Members of Parliament on the matter, prompted the Centre to bring forward this Bill, they added.
The losses from online money gaming are estimated at Rs 20,000 crore annually, with nearly 45 crore people affected by such platforms, according to people in know.
Penalties proposed under the Bill include up to three years in prison and a fine of Rs 1 crore for any person offering online money gaming services. Those involved in advertising or endorsing such platforms may face up to two years in jail along with a Rs 50 lakh fine.
Similarly, anyone facilitating transactions or fund transfers for online gaming could face three years of imprisonment and penalties up to Rs 1 crore.
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