The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, passed by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, threatens to upend the vibrant, multi-billion-dollar online gaming sector in India. By banning all online money games outright, the government has missed the opportunity to take a calibrated approach to regulating a sector that employs over 200,000 people and contributes significantly to the national exchequer.
The Statement of Objects and Reasons to the bill cites concerns such as addiction, money laundering and user safety among other concerns to justify the prohibition on online money games.
There always has been a plethora of options to regulate the gaming sector, ranging from creating a licensing framework for operators of real money games, imposing deposit and loss limits to protect users to implementing strict know-your-customer measures and anti-money laundering provisions. Similar models have been successfully adopted around the world.
Such an approach would have provided the government with the necessary oversight while allowing the industry to grow responsibly.
Instead, a rushed and unilateral law has been enacted, one that will now face years of legal challenges. But even a successful legal challenge will come too late for many businesses that would have already been forced to shut down.
The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 is...
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