Online Gaming is now becoming a disorder that is globally recognised as a behavioural addiction. The mental health impact of this is also rising in India.
A shocking incident last year made headlines across news outlets: A 24-year-old youth from UP borrowed money from his family to play online games. Running into serious debts, he killed his mother and dumped her body in a nearby river, hoping to repay his loans/debts from her life insurance policy. Around the same time, a 20-year-old Hyderabad-based engineering student ended his life after he borrowed and lost a significant amount of money to online gaming. There are many such incidents.
With the exponential growth of the Indian gaming industry, experts warn that India may see a rapid rise of online gaming platforms, and all these gaming platforms make use of heavy advertising to promote these gaming platforms. Friends, if you are following IPL then you must be seeing ads on TV about Dream 11, make your team before match and earn prices in Crore of Rupees, and everyday during the match you will see the advertisement such and such person has won the prize.
Online gaming refers to any kind of gambling as well as gaming that is conducted on the internet. This includes the gambling platforms like virtual poker, casinos, and sports betting. Teen Patti, Rummy are another popular Indian gambling card games.
In offline gambling the social restriction and stigma associated with it prevented gamblers from expanding their networks and was restricted to few people. But the menace and plague of online gambling has turned out to be the silent killer in which our youth with the help of smartphones using internet are wasting their precious time and money leading to huge financial losses. This addiction among the youth leaves them playing such games throughout the day which might lead to many physical and psychological impacts on their well being.
Social influences, particularly through social media and peer interactions, normalize gambling behaviours, making them more appealing to youth. During online gaming activities people usually chase their losses they had faced earlier and in this chase they are subjected to huge loss which they later regret leaving them in state of depression, anxiety and severe psychological trauma.
The crux of the matter is, in today’s life people want short cuts in their lives and want to earn money without any hard work. Another reason why people fall prey to such gambling apps is that many celebrities and social media influencers promote these gambling platforms and easily attract the attention of young minds. In many instances a person who faces huge loss to this ill practice may even think of committing suicidal attempts.
In order to check this menace of online gambling our society needs an integrated approach involving different sections of the society. The most decisive contribution can be from family members such as spouse, parents, siblings etc. They can play a vital role in their dear ones online gaming habits. The social control can have positive impact on younger people. For children, parents can set time limits to break these habits. Let the parents/spouse/sibling talk with the affected person and discuss with them about such gaming/gambling sites in order to help them identify and express their feelings. Especially, parents can provide support and good parent-child relationships to help protect their children from these unhealthy habits.
There is dire need of organizing counseling sessions in school, colleges, universities and other educational institutions in which youth can be guided about the ill effects of such online gambling apps and platforms.
Prolonged gaming sessions can contribute to health issues such as eye strain, musculoskeletal problems, and sleep disturbances. Playing online games can increase anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
The biggest Online gaming risks are
- Cyberbullying and online harassment.
- Inappropriate or upsetting content.
- Account takeovers and hacking.
- Malware and viruses.
- Online predators.
- Identity theft and privacy issues.
- Excessive in-game spending.
- Devoting too much time to gaming.
In my opinion government should ban the advertising of online gaming and gambling platforms, and celebrities should not be allowed to advertise about these gaming/gambling platforms.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
26th May 2025