Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025

Why in the News? 

Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 (popularly known as the Online Gaming Bill) has passed both the houses of Parliament.

• The Bill prohibits online games involving monetary stakes but supports and recognizes esports and casual social gaming.
• The bill was introduced by the Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and attracted the support of many MPs, but it received criticism by the opposition leaders including Shashi Tharoor.
• The proposed policy aims to help combat addiction, financial crimes, and money laundering in association with online gaming, but also promote esports in India, which is an industry on the rise.

About the Online Gaming Bill, 2025:

• Aims to promote esports and social gaming as safe and legitimate sectors.
• Imposes a comprehensive ban on money-based online gaming, regardless of whether the game is based on skill or chance.
• Establishes a National Online Gaming Authority for regulation, grievance redressal, and compliance.
• Seeks to balance youth protection, middle-class family interests, and national security concerns against the industry’s economic potential.

Key Provisions of the Bill: Online Gaming Bill 2025

Recognition of Esports:

• Esports to be recognised as a legitimate competitive sport.
• The Sports Ministry plans to issue guidelines, establish training academies and research hubs, and integrate esports into the national sports policy.

Regulation of Social Games:

• Government empowered to recognize, categories, and register safe and age-appropriate social/educational games.
• Promotion of cultural and educational values in online games.

Ban on Money-Based Games:

• A complete prohibition on providing, running, or enabling online games involving monetary stakes.
• Prohibition of advertisements for such games across all platforms.
• Such transactions cannot be processed by banks or payment platforms.

Regulatory Authority: Online Gaming Bill 2025

An online gaming authority should be established in order to:

• Categorization and registration of games.
• Determining if a game should be classified as a money game.
• Handling complaints and grievances.
• Issuing codes of practice and compliance orders.

Penalties:

• A penalty of up to three years in prison and/or a fine of ₹1 crore may be imposed for conducting or enabling money-based gaming.
• Advertising ban: Violations can result in a fine of 50 lakh rupees or a 2 year prison sentence.
• Participating in money game–related financial activities may result in imprisonment of up to three years or a penalty reaching ₹1 crore.
• In case of repeated offences, the penalty may include 3 to 5 years of imprisonment along with a fine of up to ₹2 crore.

Concern: Online Gaming Bill 2025

Industry Concerns:

• Esports Players Welfare Association (EPWA) fears the blanket ban doesn’t distinguish between skill-based and chance-based games, impacting livelihoods of professional gamers, coaches, and creators.
• India has 450 million online gamers, many may shift to unregulated offshore platforms.

Revenue Loss:

• Critics like Shashi Tharoor argue banning instead of regulating will push gaming underground, losing potential tax revenue.

Enforcement Issues:

• Users may bypass blocking of platforms under the IT Act using VPNs and offshore servers.

Balancing Regulation & Innovation:

• The global players invest in the Indian online-gaming business, which totaled 3.8 billion dollars. High bans are a discouragement to innovation and investments.

Social Concerns vs. Freedom of Choice:

• Although the Bill gives particular attention to the security of middle-class families and young people, it brings concerns related to individual liberty, the digital economy, and the excessive role of the government.