In August 2025, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, aiming to encourage electronic-sports (e-sports) and online social games while prohibiting harmful online money gaming services, advertisements, and financial transactions related to them.
Exam Hints:
- What? Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 passed
- Assent by: President Droupadi Murmu
- Changes made: Prohibition on online money games, Promotion of e-sports and online social games, Authority, Search warrant
- Why? Addiction, Fraud, Money laundering, Healthy alternatives
- Penalties: Offering game – 3 years prison, 1cr; Advertising – 2 years prison, 50 lakhs; facilitators – 3 years, 1cr.
Key Highlights:
Timeline: The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 20, 2025 by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
- The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha without debate and passed by Rajya Sabha on August 21, 2025.
About the Bill:
Objective: The objective of the Act is to protect individuals, especially youth and vulnerable populations, from the adverse social, economic, psychological and privacy-related impacts of such games.
Types: The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 divides online games into four types: e-sports, social games, educational games, and online money games.
- According to the Act, an “online money game” is any online game—based on skill, chance, or both where a user pays a fee, deposits money, or places a stake with the hope of winning something valuable in return, usually money.
Promotion of e-sports and online social games: The CG may take the following steps for recognition and development of e-sports and online social games:
- Create a mechanism for registration of e-sports and online social games
- Specify guidelines for conducting e-sports events
- Establish training academies for e-sports
- Incentivise promotion of e-sport technology platforms
- Support initiatives that increase public access to safe social gaming content
Prohibition on online money games: The Bill enforces a blanket ban on online money games and associated services.
- It restricts the offering, facilitation, advertisement, or enabling of financial transactions related to such games.
- It empowers the Central Government (CG) to block access to information pertaining to online money gaming services for the public.
Authority on Online Gaming: The CG may constitute an Authority with powers to:
- Determine whether an online game qualifies as an online money game
- Recognise, categorise, and register online games.
Search and arrest without warrant: The Bill empowers authorised officials to enter and search any place including buildings, vehicles, e-records and virtual digital spaces (emails, social medias) without a warrant.
Offences and penalties: Offering online money gaming services will be punishable with imprisonment for up to three years, a fine up to Rs.1 crore, or both.
- Advertising online money games will be punishable with imprisonment up to two years, a fine up to Rs 50 lakh, or both.
- Facilitating financial transactions for such services will be punishable with imprisonment up to three years, a fine up to Rs.1 crore, or both.
Non-compliance: Non-compliance with directions or guidelines issued by the central government or the Authority will attract penalties and restrictions.
- Civil Penalty: Fine amount up to Rs. 10 lakhs.
- Additional Consequence: Suspension or cancellation of registration, along with a prohibition on offering, facilitating, or promoting games for a specified period as notified by the CG.
Key reasons for the bill:
The union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated an estimated that, 45 crore people are negatively affected by online money games and faced a loss of more than Rs. 20,000 crores because of it.
Addiction and Financial Ruin: Online money games encourage compulsive playing. Families have been pushed into debt and distress.
Mental Health and Suicides: The stress of heavy financial loss has led to cases of depression and even suicide.
Fraud and Money Laundering: Several platforms have been misused for illegal activities.
Closing Legal Loopholes: Gambling and betting are already restricted under Indian laws such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and by various state legislations. But the online domain remained largely unregulated. The Bill ensures that the same standards apply in both physical and digital spaces.
Encouraging Healthy Alternatives: E-sports will be promoted as a legitimate sport, while social and educational games that build skills and cultural values will receive government support.
Important Terms:
Online money game: It is an online game either based on skill, chance or both that involves a user paying money or other stakes (credits, coins and tokens) in expectation of receiving monetary or other enrichment.
Online Social Games: These are casual games that form part of everyday recreation. They are primarily skill-based and designed for entertainment, learning, or social interaction. Such games are generally considered safe and do not cause negative social consequences.
Blanket ban: It means complete prohibition or restriction that applies to everything within a certain category, without any exceptions or exemptions.
