Ashwini Vaishnaw introduces Online Gaming Regulation Bill: Will it put $25-billion sector and 200,000 jobs at risk?

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday introduced the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, a bill that proposes to ban real-money gaming.

Vaishnaw reasoned that these online platforms have been used for money laundering, financing terrorism, and as messaging channels by terrorist organisations.

The Online Gaming Bill

The legislation, approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, intends to ban online games with a monetary component, citing concerns over financial losses, addiction, and suicides among children and youth.

Under the Bill, platforms offering such games could face up to three years of imprisonment or fines of Rs 1 crore, while advertisers risk up to two years in jail or Rs 50 lakh in fines.

Furthermore, repeat offences may attract three to five years’ imprisonment with higher fines.

Banks and financial institutions facilitating transactions for online money games will also face the implications.

As reported by Moneycontrol, industry stakeholders fear that a potential ban on India's real-money gaming (RMG) industry in the government's online gaming bill could cause a severe setback to a $25-billion sector that employs over 2 lakh people directly and indirectly.

According to the report, stakeholders suspect the move would push users toward illegal offshore betting websites, matka operators, and fly-by-night actors, boosting these platforms while undermining tax revenues, user safety, and national digital sovereignty.

Industry speculates that peg goods and services tax (GST) losses from offshore gambling operators are at over $4 billion, more than the $3.5 billion in revenue generated by India's RMG industry.

The industry itself contributes more than Rs 25,000 crore in annual taxes.

Prominent players in this sector include Dream11, Games24x7, Nazara Technologies (Pokerbaazi), Gameskraft, and Mobile Premier League (MPL).

The Bill, however, does not criminalise players, treating them as victims rather than offenders. It also instructs the creation of a statutory regulatory authority to determine which games qualify as online money games, with mandatory registration and compliance for all platforms.

An online money game is defined as one in which users pay fees, deposit money, or stake items with the expectation of winning money or stakes, irrespective of whether the game is based on skill, chance, or both. The Bill explicitly excludes eSports and casual or skill-based games without monetary stakes.

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