{"id":777035516,"date":"2025-12-03T12:13:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T15:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777035516"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:22:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:22:26","slug":"odisha-replaces-jail-terms-with-fines-for-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/odisha-replaces-jail-terms-with-fines-for-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Odisha replaces jail terms with fines for gambling offences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The aim is to reduce court delays and decrease litigation costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

India.- The eastern Indian state Odisha<\/strong> has repealed imprisonment for gambling offences, replacing it with fines. The provision is part of the Odisha Jan Vishwas<\/strong> (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025<\/strong>, passed yesterday, December 2<\/strong>, by the state’s legislative assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, gambling offences were subjected to one to six months in jail and fines ranging from \u20b9100 (US$1.11) to thousands of rupees. The revised bill imposes paying fines ranging from \u20b95,000 (US$55.46) to \u20b975,000 (US$831).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move has generated a backlash from opposition parties, who accuse the government of promoting gambling and neglecting social concerns. Athagarh BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain<\/strong>, also known as Raja Swain<\/strong>, said the decision is tantamount to \u201cnationalising gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swain warned that the bill could lead to the growth of gambling in the state. He said, \u201cThe government at the Centre is saying something, and their left hand at the State is saying something else. Our previous generations had passed a law in this House for restricting gambling activity through jail punishment. Now, anyone can gamble and move freely after paying a fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending its position, the state government argues that replacing jail terms with larger fines will reduce court delays and decrease litigation costs. Bhatli BJP MLA Irasis Acharya<\/strong> said: \u201cOpposition parties are trying to mislead the people of Odisha. The reason is that they were unable to bring reforms to the law, which should have been amended earlier. When we are keen to bring about reforms and want people not to get distracted and adopt unfair means, they are deceiving the people instead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> India’s financial crime agency seizes \u20b9524 Crore from gaming firms<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The aim is to reduce court delays and decrease litigation costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":12962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Indian state of Odisha has repealed imprisonment for gambling offenses, replacing it with fines ranging from \u20b95,000 to \u20b975,000, under the Odisha Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025. This legislative change, aimed at reducing court delays and litigation costs, has drawn criticism from opposition parties who accuse the government of promoting gambling.","focusai_entities":"Ranendra Pratap Swain, Raja Swain, Irasis Acharya, Odisha BJD MLA, Bhatli BJP MLA, Odisha Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025","focusai_location":"India, Odisha","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), gambler_consumer (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Informal Gambling?","query":"What are the long-term implications of this legislative amendment on the growth of the informal gambling market in Odisha, given the reduced personal risk for offenders?"},{"label":"Regulatory Stance Shift?","query":"How might this shift in penalty structure influence Odisha's broader regulatory stance on formal iGaming licensing and taxation, and what signals does it send to potential B2B\/B2C operators?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16334],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777035516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777035516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777035516"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777035516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777035543,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777035516\/revisions\/777035543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777035516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777035516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777035516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}