IS REAL MONEY GAMING BAN THE Endgame?

Real money games didn't just ruin several lives financially but also had a deep psychological impact on the gamers, which the recent online gaming ban stopped in its tracks, but there are others who rue the ban, warning of job losses and the rise of black market apps. What's the endgame?

- Anuradha Mishra

For years, the warnings came in whispers, people losing their salaries to “easy win” app-based real money games (RMGs), families quietly pawning assets to chase back lost money, and late-night calls to helplines after one click too many.

The government finally decided it could no longer treat these stories as isolated tragedies, and on August 22, Parliament passed The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, a law that drew a sharp line for India's online gaming sector.

Policymakers say the legislation to ban RMGs is designed to curb addiction, financial ruin and social distress caused by RMG platforms that thrive on misleading promises of creating quick wealth, with the middle class and young adults being the most exposed.

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw noted in Rajya Sabha in August that according to an estimate, 450 million people have been negatively affected by online money games and faced a loss of more than ₹20,000 crore, according to a Press Information Bureau release.

The ban has finally rid several gamers, who lost lakhs of rupees in RMGs, of an addiction that was ruining lives, financially and mentally. At the same time, it has also hit hard game developers, employees working in these companies who suddenly find themselves jobless, as well as skilled gamers who claim to have understood the play.

Let's find out what the ban is about, how it has benefitted players who were addicted to it, and what makes the law controversial.

The Ban

The new law is a national, non-bailable, and centrally-enforced law. It has done something simple, but decisive. It has demarcated online games into three categories to draw the line between what lawmakers saw as addictive money traps and what can be considered healthy digital play.