{"id":93999,"date":"2025-08-24T17:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/93999\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T17:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:32:09","slug":"india-bans-online-gambling-channels-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/93999\/","title":{"rendered":"India Bans Online Gambling\u00a0 \u2022 Channels Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

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India\u2019s parliament has passed a sweeping bill banning online gambling, after government figures showed companies had stripped $2.3 billion annually from 450 million people.<\/p>\n

The ban impacts platforms for card games, poker, and fantasy sports, including India\u2019s wildly popular homegrown fantasy cricket apps.<\/p>\n

It also leaves the fate of the key sponsor for India\u2019s national cricket team in question.<\/p>\n

Dream11, India\u2019s biggest fantasy sports gaming platform, was named on July 2023 as the country\u2019s lead sponsor for three years, with its logo splashed on Team India jerseys.<\/p>\n

No announcement has been made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding that key sponsor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s not permissible, we\u2019ll not do anything,\u201d BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said Friday. \u201cThe BCCI will follow every policy of the country that is framed by the central government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill was passed by both houses of parliament late on Thursday, and criminalises the offering, promotion and financing of such games, with offenders facing up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n

Dream 11, in a statement posted on its website on Friday, noted that, following the passing of the bill, \u201ccash games and contests have been discontinued\u201d, but urged fans to \u201cstay tuned\u201d.<\/p>\n

Other games remained online on Friday, with the\u00a0bill still needing to be formally ratified by the president before taking effect.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:\u00a0Gyokeres Scores Twice As Arsenal Rout Leeds<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018Predatory gaming platforms\u2019
\n\"\"In this handout picture released by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends a meeting of Saudi-Indian Strategic Partnership Council held in Jeddah April 22, 2025. (Photo by -STR \/ SAUDI PRESS AGENCY SPA \/ AFP)
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\u201cThis legislation is designed to curb addiction, financial ruin and social distress caused by predatory gaming platforms that thrive on misleading promises of quick wealth,\u201d a government statement said.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s wider gaming industry is one of the largest markets in the world, but the new law carves out exceptions for e-sports and educational games, which the government says will be promoted as part of the digital economy.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the new law will \u201cencourage e-sports and online social games\u201d while \u201cat the same time, it will save our society from the harmful effects of online money games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government said roughly a third of the world\u2019s most populous country had lost money gambling online.<\/p>\n

Industry groups had urged regulation and taxation rather than a blanket ban, warning the move could drive players to illegal offshore platforms.<\/p>\n

But supporters of the bill argued that the social costs are too high to allow.<\/p>\n

Officials said the rapid spread of gambling platforms had caused widespread financial distress, addiction and even suicide.<\/p>\n

The government said it had also been linked to fraud, money laundering and terrorism financing.<\/p>\n

Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of technology, noted the law differentiates between online \u201csocial\u201d games and those played for money.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt encourages e-sports, which are organised competitive video games, and promotes safe online social and educational games\u201d, a government briefing note read.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt clearly separates constructive digital recreation from betting, gambling and fantasy money games that exploit users with false promises of profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 India\u2019s parliament has passed a sweeping bill banning online gambling, after government figures showed companies had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,55070,84,1799,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-93999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-gamble","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-india","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}