Piloting The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 in the Upper House, Minister of Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said the legislation will promote two-thirds of the online gaming segment. The Bill, he said, will ban online money games, which have become a big problem for society, especially middle-class youth.
The Bill was approved by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. “There is addiction. The family’s savings are lost. It is estimated that 45 crore people have fallen victim to it. More than Rs 20,000 crore of our middle-class families’ hard-earned money has been destroyed,” Vaishnaw said.
The Union Minister said the World Health Organisation has declared it a gaming disorder. “The International Classification of Diseases, ICD-11, has declared it a gaming disorder. Online money gaming has become a public health risk — psychological disorders, compulsive behaviour, withdrawal symptoms, violent behaviour… are being caused by this,” he added.
The Bill also seeks to prohibit advertisements related to online money games, as well as bar banks and financial institutions from facilitating or transferring funds for any of such games.
The Union Minister said that to stop this problem, measures have been taken in the past, including a self-regulation mechanism, but the menace of online money games continued to rise. Vaishnaw cited several suicide cases reported in the media, including an instance where a youth lost his mother’s cancer treatment money in online games and died by suicide.
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