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New Delhi: India’s online gaming industry is adjusting to a major shift after Parliament cleared the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, which bans all real-money based games. The law, which received Presidential assent on August 22, has already led to popular platforms halting operations. Now, focus has turned to how the new rules will be implemented on the ground.
According to a report from Moneycontrol, the first meeting between government officials and the financial sector is expected to take place today, August 29. Senior representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and the Department of Financial Services will sit down with banks and fintech firms to chalk out measures for monitoring transactions and ensuring compliance.
Officials are likely to discuss three key aspects — halting transactions linked to money-based gaming, blocking deposits, and coordinating wallet refunds for affected users. The meeting is also expected to cover anti-money laundering checks, with an emphasis on strengthening compliance with counter-terror financing rules.
The new law has created uncertainty for gaming companies that relied heavily on real-money games such as rummy, poker, and fantasy sports. Several major platforms including Dream11, WinZO, My11Circle, Zupee and PokerBaazi have already shut down their money-gaming formats. The industry had earlier been valued at close to ₹2 lakh crore, with projections of steady growth until this ban brought operations to a sudden stop.
The law, however, makes a clear distinction between real-money platforms and permissible formats such as eSports and social games. Skill-based multiplayer video games that do not involve financial stakes will not be affected. The government has said it intends to promote and regulate these categories, seeing them as healthier avenues for online gaming in India.
In addition, the Bill lays the groundwork for creating a national-level Online Gaming Authority. This body will be responsible for registering games, categorising whether they fall under money or non-money formats, issuing codes of conduct, and handling grievances.
Meanwhile, not everyone in the sector is taking the ban lying down. Head Digital Works, the parent company of rummy platform A23, has already filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court. The company argued that the law “criminalises the legitimate business of playing online games of skill,” and urged the court to declare it unconstitutional when applied to skill-based games.
Other firms, however, have chosen a different path. Dream11, for example, has said it will comply with the law and focus instead on building out other sports-related ventures, even as it admitted that 95 percent of its revenue disappeared overnight.
The outcome of today’s meeting and the court challenge in Karnataka could shape how the ban unfolds in the coming months. For players, it raises immediate questions about refunds and access, while for companies it is about survival. For the government, it is about striking a balance between consumer safety and fostering a growing digital economy.
The Online Gaming Bill has turned into one of the biggest flashpoints between India’s tech ecosystem and policymakers in 2025. What happens next will likely set the tone for how gaming is regulated for years to come.
