I Am A Gamer. Does The Ban On Gaming Apps Affect Me?

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The bill on online gaming apps involving real money is not a law yet. When it becomes a law, the user's money could be stuck with the payment aggregator platform. Here is what the user needs to know:

 IMPACT ON $3.8 BILLION GAMING INDUSTRY 

The Govt's move to declare online gaming that involves real money will impact India's $3.8 billion gaming industry. The real-money gaming sector, reportedly accounts for approximately 86 percent
It no longer makes a distinction between skill and gambling. Under the bill gaming apps that require users to pay money to win cash will be banned. 

According to All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), the E-Gaming Federation (EGF), and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), the industry has attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of over ₹25,000 crore till June 2022 and currently supports over two lakh direct and indirect jobs.

WHICH ARE THESE GAMING PLATFORMS? 

Dream 11, Howzat-Fantasy Cricket App, SG11, WinZo, Games24- My11Circle, RummyCircle, 7. Junglee Games (Junglee Rummy, Junglee Poker), PokerBaazi, GamesKraft, MyTeam11, Nazara Technologies and many others

WHY IS THE GOVT BANNING RMG APPS? 

The Bill says unchecked expansion of online money gaming services has been linked to “unlawful activities including financial fraud, money-laundering, tax evasion, and in some cases, the financing of terrorism, thereby posing threats to national security, public order and the integrity of the State

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES? 

Anyone offering a RMG platform will be imprisoned for up to 3 years and penalised 1Cr INR
Those promoting such platforms, such as social media influencers, will also face jail time of two years, and a penalty of Rs 50 lakh. The government will prohibit banks and financial institutions from facilitating financial transactions on such platforms.

IMPACT ON USERS

Till the time this becomes a law the users are not impacted. Once it becomes a law if payments have been done to aggregator platforms for gaming, could be stuck. None of the payment aggregators have promised to return money 

COULD THERE BE A REVERSAL? 
Unlikely. Though the associations are appealing for a more balanced regulatory framework instead of an outright ban.