India’s Real Money Gaming Ban and What Comes Next
29 Aug 2025 6:20 AM IST
Description: On August 22, the Indian Parliament passed the 'Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill'. After getting the President's assent, it became law. This law bans all real-money gaming, skill and chance-based.
While many support this bill, there’s dissenting voices too. People say that lawmakers passed it too quickly and didn’t invite public opinion. The government says that real money gaming is dangerous to India’s youth – in his Lok Sabha speech, Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that each year, 450 million Indians lose 10,000 crore rupees to these games.
But, who do gamers and psychologists think?
In the latest episode of The Signal Daily, we’ll hear from two such consumers, as well as psychologists and an IT expert. What is the human cost of gaming?
The Core produces The Signal Daily. To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in.
NOTE: A machine transcribed this episode. A human has looked at this text but there might still be errors. Please refer to the audio above, if you need to clarify something. If you want to give us feedback, please write to us at [email protected].
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TRANSCRIPT
Harpreet: सही किया अभी कर देना चाहिए और बच जाएंगे लोग जो इसमें फंसे हैं बेचारे ..
Kudrat (Host): That was 27-year old Harpreet. He started playing 1xBet, an online betting game, about a year ago. After some initial wins, Harpreet says he only saw losses. On August 22, the President gave her assent to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, making it a law. Harpreet said that he supports the government banning real money games, as it will discourage people from losing their hard-earned money.
Kudrat (Host): My name is Kudrat Wadhwa and you’re listening to The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends.
In this episode, we’ll learn about the recent ban on real-money gaming. We’ll also hear from gamers and experts about their opinion on this law.
Kudrat (Host): Harpreet told The Signal Daily that he downloaded this game after watching someone he knew make money off the game. He started by betting a thousand rupees, then two thousand…
Harpreet: तो मतलब प्रॉफिट होता गया फिर होता गया मतलब गेम ऐसे लालच देती रही मतलब ज्यादा ले लो ज्यादा है ना आता रहा प्रॉफिट तब। फिर अचानक से बस। खत्म
उसके बाद लॉस होना शुरू हो गया। फिर ऐसे तो अभी पूरे कर ले पैसे पिछला लॉस कवर कर ले।
बस लॉस कवर करने के चक्कर में बस फिर करते रहे करते रहे फिर और ज्यादा लॉस होता गया।
Kudrat (Host): Harpreet said in total he lost 4 lakh rupees on this betting game.
Harpreet: इसी बात की वो पेमेंट था जोड़ के रखे थे पेमेंट अभी कुछ काम के लिए आज काम आ जाएंगे पैसे थोड़ा सा ना। होता ही है हर किसी को भी थोड़ा सा है ना अभी इनकम जोड़ के रखते हैं थोड़े से पैसे भी आगे फ्यूचर में इन फ्यूचर में काम आ जाएँगे लेकिन वो सब लॉस हो गया फिर अभी कुछ भी नहीं है टेंशन और बढ़ गई।
Kudrat (Host): Harpreet is like millions of Indians who have played and lost money in real money games like TeenPatti, Rummy, and Poker. In March 2025, a gaming company and IEIC released a report. IEIC, btw, is a non-profit organisation that focusses on India’s interactive entertainment ecosystem. The report pegged the online gaming industry’s value at $3.7 billion in 2024. Of this, the report said that real money gaming, meaning games that require users to spend money to play them, occupies 86% of the market share.
When Dream11, one of the biggest players in this space, first launched in 2008, it didn’t make much noise. That’s in part because most Indians didn’t own smartphones at the time. But, in 2016, data became cheap. There were more affordable smartphones in the market too, which meant that many more people could now access these games.
Kudrat (Host): Once they gained momentum, real money games spread like wildfire across the country. Recent data shows that there are 450 million RMG players in the country. Most of these are on the younger end – 18-35 years of age. Moreover, a lot live in smaller, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in the country.
For a lot of users, the path into real money gaming resembles that of Harpreet. After some initial wins, they start seeing losses. Then, to recoup their losses, they keep playing and betting more money. A govt source told Business Standard that 450 million Indians lose 20,000 crore rupees each year to such games.
Kudrat (Host): Even within online gaming, there are two categories – skill-based, so that’s games like Poker where there’s some strategy involved and then there’s games like Slots or Roulette, which are purely luck-based.
The Signal Daily spoke to two psychologists, Dr. Prerna Kohli and Dr. Harshmeet Kaur. In an email, Dr. Kohli said that she has noticed a difference in how her clients talk about participating in skill-based games. She wrote that she has noticed more rationalisation in skill-based gamers. Her clients tell her that they’re improving and they just need more practice. They feel more of a sense of control.
Kudrat (Host): Dr. Kaur said that with chance-based games, her clients expect that a win has to follow losses.
Dr. Kaur: Like, for example, they feel that I'm due for a win. And so, that's why, you know, they're always putting in more money and they're trying to, you know, get into chance, pace scheme than, then in the next game maybe they are going to win.
Kudrat (Host): But, from a psychological perspective, psychologists said that both skill and chance-based gamers end up in the same cycle of hope, risk, loss and regret. In addition to financial losses, players also experience heightened irritability, withdrawal from family and friends, and a constant preoccupation with the game. Both psychologists said that gamers also see disturbed sleep cycles, and report anxiety, guilt, or a sense of losing control—which makes them feel worse, and yet they continue gaming.
Kudrat (Host): When the government of India introduced the bill banning online gaming, they also cited these reasons of such games damaging people’s pockets and their mental health. Here’s a clip of Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw giving a speech in the Lok Sabha.
CLIP1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_wPVEgBcDU
Kudrat (Host): After discussing the bill for seven minutes, the Lok Sabha passed it with a voice vote. The next day, the Rajya Sabha passed it too in 25 minutes, after which it got the President’s assent and became a law.
This new law bans all online gaming that uses real money, whether the game is skill or chance-based. Operators face up to three years in jail or a fine of Rs 1 crore; advertisers up to two years or Rs 50 lakh; banks face similar penalties. Players aren’t punished, as the law treats them as victims.
But, not everyone agrees with a complete ban. Congress leaders Karti Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor, and Priyank Kharge, along with industry bodies, opposed the bill. They argue it threatens Rs 20,000 crore in tax revenue, endangers six billion dollars in foreign investment, and wipes out jobs. They call for regulation and taxation instead of prohibition, warning that an outright ban will push players toward unsafe, offshore gambling platforms.
Kudrat (Host): The Signal Daily spoke to tech expert Kanish Gaur. He founded Athenian Tech Limited, a cybersecurity firm in the UK.
Kanishk: I think this law could have been better drafted, uh, where the startup ecosystem, which has got significantly impacted, uh, their consideration should have been kept in mind. The bill was introduced and it was passed within four days. Yeah. Without doing any public consultation, without really reaching out to civil society.
So I have been part of a lot of bills which have come out in the past, and we as civil society have. Share our set of recommendations. So our government has overlooked the recommendations of civil society or public consultation. So I don't think so. Bringing out a bill like that and just getting it passed both houses and then getting the approval from the parliament and making it effective is, is the way, uh, democracy works effectively on ground.
Kudrat (Host): Kanishk also said that now, consumers have to be much more aware of what website or app they are signing up for.
Kanishk: So I think, uh, the consumers need to look at what apps are legal, what apps are illegal before they actually download an app.
Because not every app is going to get shut down because the bill has been passed. Uh, certain apps are gonna replicate, shut down one and create a replica and create another app. Uh, so how consumer awareness is going to happen, uh, how monitoring mechanisms are going to be enforced. What methods the government is looking at ensuring that users are more aware about this law, uh, and not just enforcing it on ground per se.
Kudrat (Host): There’s opposition to this law, yes, by some politicians as well as people in the gaming industry and certain techies. But many people on social media platforms like Reddit and X support this ban. The players The Signal Daily spoke to also support the ban. Santosh said that he lost 15,000 rupees, after which he stopped playing the game.
Kudrat: तो मतलब आपको क्या लगता है इस बारे में जो इंडियन गवर्नमेंट ने बन कर दिया है ऐसी गेम्स को?
Santosh: ये सही किया है मतलब ये तो काफी टाइम पहले ही हो जाना चाहिए हमारे कुछ आह इंडियन जो एक्टर्स है और क्रिकेटर हैं ये लोग भी इसकी एड कर रहे हैं मगर ये चीज़ गलत है देखो जिनके पास पैसा है वो तो कुछ टाइम के लिए खेलते हैं, कुछ जीतते हैं कुछ हार भी जाते हैं उनको उतना फर्क नहीं पड़ता मगर जो मिडल क्लास फैमिलीज के लोग है जो दिहाड़ी मजदूरी करते है या छोटे सेटअप में काम करते है जिनकी इनकम बहुत कम है। वो लोग भी इस चीज़ को खेलते हैं आह लालच में आकर वो अपना लॉस कर लेते हैं। कई लोग इस चीज़ इस चीज़ में कई लोग काफी ज्यादा पैसा हारने की वजह से सुसाइड भी कर जाते है। तो ये एक बहुत ही गलत प्लेटफॉर्म
इससे सरकार को बहुत पहले ही बंद कर देना चाहिए।
Kudrat (Host): Banning real money gaming could be a good first step. But, the truth is that there’s many Indians who suffer from gaming addiction. Many gamers suffer from depression and financial devastation; for some, their relationship with their families has suffered too. Dr. Prerna Kohli said that “a bill can set boundaries, but prevention, awareness, and mental health support must go hand in hand.”
Kudrat (Host): That's all for today. You just heard The Signal Daily. We don't do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends. The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in.
If you have feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Write to us at feedback at thecore.in or you can write to me personally at kudrat at thecore.in.
Thank you for listening.
