Gaming bill makes parents referees, but do they know enough to keep children safe online?

The Online Gaming Bill 2025 passed in Lok Sabha last week has a clean, catchy promise: make online games safe, particularly for children. Ban the betting, limit the playtime, hold platforms accountable. Crucially, make parents the final gatekeepers for under-18s. No parental consent, no game. Simple, right?

Except, it isn’t.

This is not the first time Indian laws have turned to parents as the safety lock on children’s digital lives. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 did exactly the same, demanding parental consent before a platform could process a child’s data.

At the time, when I wrote about it in Scroll, I argued that we had created a system where parents were treated as all-knowing guardians in a world they barely understood. We had placed them in the cockpit without ever teaching them to fly.

Two years later, here we are again. Only this time, the cockpit is flashing with neon lights and addictive loops of online games that children inhabit with ease. Again, parents are asked to play referee without knowing the rules.

The law vs the living room

On paper, the Online Gaming Bill is impressive. It calls out the gambling industry in disguise, forces platforms to register and comply, and demands safeguards like time limits and spending caps...

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