Overview

• Rajya Sabha cleared the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill on August 21, sending it to the President for assent.
• The bill outlaws all real-money games including fantasy sports, poker and rummy, mandates bank blocks and possible IT Act platform blocking, and treats players as victims.
• Penalties include up to three years in prison or a ₹1 crore fine for offering money games, and up to two years or a ₹50 lakh fine for advertising them.
• MPL said it has shut all money-gaming on its platform with immediate effect and will allow users to withdraw balances.
• Zupee announced it removed paid games while keeping free titles live, and Dream11 is reportedly preparing to close its real-money unit with no formal company announcement yet.