India’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed a sweeping online gaming bill that, while promoting esports and casual gaming without monetary stakes, imposes a blanket ban on real-money games — threatening to disrupt billions of dollars in investment and significantly impact the real-money gaming industry, which could see widespread shutdowns.
Titled the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, the legislation aims to prohibit real-money games nationwide — whether based on skill or chance — and ban both their advertisement and associated financial transactions, as TechCrunch reported earlier based on its draft version.
“In this bill, priority has been given to the welfare of society and to avoid a big evil that is creeping into society,” India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Parliament while introducing the bill.
The proposed legislation restricts banks and other financial institutions from allowing transactions for real-money games in the country. Anyone offering these games could face imprisonment for up to three years, a fine of up to ₹10 million (approximately $115,000), or both. Additionally, celebrities promoting such games on any media platform could be liable for up to two years of imprisonment or a fine of ₹5 million (roughly $57,000), the bill states.
Vaishnaw said the decision to bring the legislation was to address several incidents of harm, including cases where individuals reportedly died by suicide after losing money in games. However, industry stakeholders largely attribute these incidents to offshore betting and gambling apps, which many believe will not be addressed by this legislation.
“This law is bound to face litigation as it fails the test of proportionality under Article 19(1)(g),” said Meghna Bal, director of the New Delhi-based think tank Esya Centre. “Instead of safeguarding consumers, it dismantles compliant onshore companies while opening the door wider for illegal offshore betting platforms that are the real source of financial harm.”
Article 19(1)(g) of India’s Constitution guarantees citizens the right to practice any profession or carry on any occupation, trade, or business.
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Ahead of the bill’s introduction in the Indian Parliament, industry bodies wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening, urging him to intervene. The letter — sent by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports, All India Gaming Federation, and E-Gaming Federation, a copy of which was reviewed by TechCrunch — warned that the proposed legislation could benefit “illegal offshore gambling operations” while forcing Indian businesses to shut down. These industry bodies represent Dream Sports, MPL, WinZO, Gameskraft, Nazara Technologies, and Zupee, among other real-money gaming companies.
“By shutting down regulated and responsible Indian platforms, it will drive [millions] of players into the hands of illegal matka networks, offshore gambling websites, and fly-by-night operators who operate without any safeguards, consumer protections, or taxation,” the letter stated. (Matka is a form of illegal gambling that originated in India, involving betting on random numbers.)
The three industry bodies estimated that real-money gaming startups in India have a combined enterprise valuation of ₹2 trillion (approximately $23 billion), generate cumulative revenues of ₹310 billion (around $3.6 billion), and contribute ₹200 billion (roughly $2.29 billion) annually in direct and indirect taxes. They also project a 28% compound annual growth rate that would double the industry’s size by 2028. The industry groups warned that the blanket ban could result in the loss of more than 200,000 jobs and the closure of over 400 companies.
A similar letter was also written to Indian Home Minister Amit Shah by these three industry associations. Some Indian and global investors are also calibrating their response, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The source did not want to be named, as the plans are not yet public.
Publicly listed Nazara Technologies, which has previously invested in real-money gaming platforms including PokerBaazi and Classic Rummy, saw its share price fall 12.84% on Wednesday to close at ₹1,220 (about $14). The company, however, earlier clarified in a stock exchange filing (PDF) that it has “no direct exposure” to real-money gaming businesses and that these platforms do not contribute to its revenues based on its latest reported financials.
Dream Sports and MPL, two of the top real-money gaming startups, declined to comment, while WinZO, another popular real-money startup, did not respond.
The bill was passed by voice vote in a noisy lower house less than seven minutes after it was introduced for debate. It now requires approval from the upper house and the president to become law.
Meanwhile, some companies in casual gaming and esports have welcomed the move.
“We applaud this decision as it allows us to focus on the ongoing concerns as a business — monetization, retention, and most importantly, building great IP for India and the world, rather than having to explain to our audiences what we are to begin with,” said Sumit Batheja, CEO and co-founder of Ginger Games, which is part of Krafton’s Indian gaming incubator and makes hyper casual games.
Krafton is the South Korean gaming company behind the popular battle royale game PUBG.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of esports company NODWIN Gaming, whose largest shareholder is Nazara Technologies, said the law needs to have clear distinctions between esports, online gaming, online social gaming, and online money gaming that are clearly defined and uniformly understood.
“The absence of precise definitions has often led to ambiguity and conflation around the term ‘esports.’ Such overlaps can create confusion not just for regulators, but also for players, teams, investors, and organizers who are working hard to build this industry,” he stated.
Bal also told TechCrunch that the bill “decimates esports,” as an authority set up by the Indian government would decide the validity of esports.
“The impact goes beyond real money gaming to the broader ecosystem of businesses that depend on it and indeed presents grave implications for the AVGC [Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics] sector as a whole,” she said.
In 2023, the Indian government amended the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to curb “user harm” from real-money games and proposed self-regulatory bodies to limit illegal betting and gambling while allowing legitimate games. However, the self-regulation approach faltered due to conflicts among industry stakeholders over enforcement and standards.
New Delhi imposed a 28% tax on online gaming in 2023 to curb real-money play, prompting an outcry from industry stakeholders. Top investors — including Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, and Kotak — urged Modi to reconsider, warning of $2.5 billion in write-offs and the potential loss of one million jobs. The tax, however, remained in place, even as companies challenged its retrospective application in the Supreme Court. Recent reports suggest it may be revised upward to 40% under new rules.
Rohit Kumar, a founding partner of the New Delhi-based public policy firm The Quantum Hub, told TechCrunch that the real problem with the new bill is a lack of due process.
“Regulation is necessary, but abrupt moves like this undermine India’s reputation as a stable, predictable investment destination. If concerns existed, the government should have signaled them clearly from the outset,” he said.
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