Despite protests from opposition leaders in the House, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Despite the uproar, the legislation was cleared through a voice vote.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh announced the approval of the legislation in the Upper House and subsequently adjourned proceedings for ten minutes.
The bill, piloted by electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, aims to ban all forms of online money games while promoting eSports and online social gaming.
The Upper House cleared the legislation after rejecting amendments proposed by Opposition members.
The Lok Sabha had passed the bill a day earlier.
The Online Gaming Bill also prohibits advertisements of online money games and bars banks and financial institutions from facilitating or transferring funds for such activities.
The proposed ban will apply to online money games, which are those in which players deposit money in the hopes of winning money or other prizes. As the bill stands clear from both houses, this makes the offering or facilitation of online money gaming punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and/or a fine of up to ₹1 crore.
During the debate, Vaishnaw told MPs, “People lose their life’s savings in online money gaming.”
After the Rajya Sabha approves the Online Gaming Bill 2025, which Indian apps are most likely to be affected? Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "Our purpose of this bill and this exercise has been ongoing for almost three-plus years, where we have deeply engaged with industry to see how the harmful impact can be prevented, contained, and reduced."
Vaishnaw told ANI that the bill's goal is to "promote and encourage the good parts." This includes making India a hub for game development through institutions like the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), where gaming is a key vertical. The minister also highlighted that several platforms have been misused for money laundering, terror financing, and even as messaging channels by terrorist organizations.
Popular gaming platforms likely to be affected under the new law include Dream11, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Howzat, SG11 Fantasy, WinZO, and PokerBaazi.
On Thursday, two senior underground leaders of the banned CPI party surrendered to Telangana Police, one of whom is a woman who has been involved in the revolutionary movement for 40 years. In the presence of Rachakonda Police Commissioner G. Sudheer Babu, Kakarala Sunitha, alias Badri, a senior member of the CPI State Committee and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, and Chennuri Harish, alias Ramanna, a member of the Telangana State Committee's area committee, joined the mainstream. A police release said the duo was motivated by welfare measures extended by the Telangana government and police, as well as support for those returning to mainstream life.They decided to lead a peaceful life with their families.
Sunitha, from Vanasthalipuram, Hyderabad, was drawn to the Radical Students Union during her intermediate studies in Rajahmundry in 1985.In January 1986, she joined the CPI People’s War and went underground.
In 2001, she and her husband, TLN Chalam, were posted to the Andhra–Odisha Border region and later to Dandakaranya in 2006.The Central Committee assigned them to strengthen ideological and political awareness among the cadres in the region.
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