Amid ruckus by Opposition, Online Gaming bill passed in Rajya Sabha

Amid protests by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill was passed in the upper house of the Parliament on Thursday. Despite a huge uproar by the Opposition leaders, the legislation was cleared by a voice vote. 

Deputy Chairman of the House, Harivansh, who is the acting Vice-President right now, announced the approval of the bill. After this, he adjourned the proceedings of the House for 10 minutes. 

The bill was pitched by Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav in the Rajya Sabha. With the legislation, the Government proposes to ban all kinds of online games that involve investing and earning money, while promoting eSports and online social gaming. 

Rejecting the amendments proposed by the Opposition members, the Rajya Sabha went on to clear the legislation. A day earlier, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha. 

With the bill, the advertisements of online money games will be prohibited, nor will the bar banks and financial institutions be able to facilitate or transfer funds for such activities. The proposed ban will include online money games, which are played by depositing money to win monetary and other rewards. 

As the bill gets cleared from both houses, the offering or facilitation of online money gaming will be a punishable offence, leading to an imprisonment of up to three years and/or a fine of up to Rs 1 crore. 

During the debate in the Rajya Sabha, Ashwini Vaishnav said, "People lose their life savings in online money gaming. Our purpose of this bill and this exercise has been ongoing for almost three plus years, where we have deeply engaged with industry to see how the harmful impact can be prevented, contained, and reduced." 

The bill will affect popular gaming platforms like Dream 11, Winzo, Pokerbaazi, and Mobile Premier League (MPL), among others.