Online Gaming Bill passed in Rajya Sabha by voice vote amid Oppn ruckus

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill amid protests by opposition leaders in the House. Despite the uproar, the legislation was cleared through a voice vote.

Deputy Chairman Harivansh announced the approval of the legislation in the Upper House and subsequently adjourned proceedings for ten minutes.

The bill, piloted by electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, aims to ban all forms of online money games while promoting eSports and online social gaming.

The Upper House cleared the legislation after rejecting amendments proposed by Opposition members.

The Lok Sabha had passed the bill a day earlier.

The Online Gaming Bill, also prohibits advertisements of online money games and bars banks and financial institutions from facilitating or transferring funds for such activities.

Online money games, defined as those played by depositing money with the expectation of winning monetary or other rewards, will be brought under the proposed ban.

As the bill stands clear from both houses, this makes the offering or facilitation of online money gaming punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and/or a fine of up to ₹1 crore.

During the debate, Vaishnaw told MPs, “People lose their life’s savings in online money gaming.”

The minister also highlighted that several platforms have been misused for money laundering, terror financing, and even as messaging channels by terrorist organisations.

Popular gaming platforms likely to be affected under the new law include Dream11, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Howzat, SG11 Fantasy, WinZO, and PokerBaazi.