With the Centre’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, passed by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday without debate, the government is now focused on ensuring that the blanket ban on real-money online games comes into force before other sections of the bill are worked upon.
Affirming the same, IT Secretary S Krishnan said they are mulling enforcement of the ‘prohibition clauses’ once the Bill gets the President’s nod and notified.
The urgency, he said, comes from the “demonstrable negative effect” that online money gaming has had on social and public health, forcing many to commit suicide or battle debts.
"There is a social evil (around online money games) that the government has wanted to address (through the Bill)... And I think we need to respect that sentiment and make sure that we are able to do whatever work we need to do at the backend much more quickly," Krishnan said.
When asked how long that might take, the senior official said it would be as early as possible. "I would not commit to a timeframe, but it clearly can't wait as long," Krishnan said, adding, "We have already started working on drafting the rules."
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Additionally, the sections whose rules are being drafted will provide a framework for promotion and regulation of e-sports and online social games, which the Centre hopes will pose India as a global hub for game development. The rules will also include constitution of the regulatory authority envisaged in the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025.
The onus of compliance when it comes to those engaged in sports or high-profile sponsorships, however, rests with the parties concerned, Krishnan warned.
"They will have to read the law and find out for themselves as to whether they are violating the law or not...figure out whether they are acting in accordance with the law," he said.
On concerns surrounding the plunging of the country’s gaming industry into losses, Krishnan said between employment generation and risk to life, the government’s priority is the latter.
While employment numbers directly tied to real-money gaming could run into a few thousand, the number of individuals adversely impacted by gaming addiction runs into "several crores", he reasoned.
"There have been suicides, instances of deep family distress...So, I would say that when it came to a question of whether you are looking at a few thousand jobs of talented youngsters who are experienced software professionals and so on, who can easily find another job, because that is the category of people we are talking about, as opposed to the livelihoods of crores of Indians, and hundreds of millions of Indians whose lives and livelihoods are at stake, I think the decision is clear as to which way society needs to view that issue," Krishnan said.
Justifying the reasoning, the bureaucrat said that India’s FDI policy has always been guided by reason and ethics, preferring to grow via sectors that generate real societal value.
“Investment is welcome in productive, nation-building areas, but given the harmful and detrimental impact of online money gaming, the loss of a few billion dollars of investment in that sector should not be a matter of concern.
And ultimately, what is it coming for? It is chasing profits from the distress of people so that you can funnel them back to the overseas investors. Now, is that something which is truly desirable?" he said.
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