New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI) The ED on Monday said it has frozen collective deposits worth about Rs 523 crore of online gaming companies WinZO and Gameskraft as the platforms allegedly "held" funds worth crores of rupees that should ideally have been refunded to players after India banned real-money gaming recently.

The federal probe agency conducted multiple searches between November 18 and 22 in Delhi, Bengaluru and Gurugram as part of a money laundering investigation against their parent companies -- Nirdesa Networks Pvt. Ltd. (NNPL), Gameskraft Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (GTPL) and WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd -- and their promoters.

These platforms offered online real-money gaming services to players.

The ED accused WinZO of "engaging in criminal activities and unscrupulous practices as customers were made to play with algorithms without being made aware of the fact that they are playing with the software and not with humans in real-money games".

WinZO, the agency said in a statement, was operating real-money games (RMGs) in countries such as Brazil, the US and Germany etc., from India (on the same platform used by the Indian entity).

"Even after the ban of RMGs by the Union government (w.e.f. 22/08/2025), an amount of Rs 43 crore is still held by the company without refunding to the gamers/customers," the ED said.

The alleged proceeds of crime worth about Rs 505 crore "possessed" by WinZO Games were frozen under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These deposits are kept in bank accounts in the form of bonds, fixed deposits and mutual funds, the ED said.

Making a similar charge against Gameskraft, that offered online money gaming services under the name Pocket52.com, the ED said that even after the government ban (through the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025) an amount of more than Rs 30 crore was "still held" by the company in its escrow accounts without refunding to gamers/customers.

The agency said it has frozen eight bank accounts (escrow accounts for payout maintained with various banks) holding deposits worth Rs 18.57 crore in the probe against Gameskraft. It alleged that these proceeds of crime were parked by the accused entities including NNPL and Pocket52, etc.

WinZO, the ED said, also prevented or limited withdrawals of money held by the customers in the wallets and generated alleged illicit funds in the form of bet amounts placed and lost by real customers through the "unscrupulous" use of algorithms/software.

The agency claimed to have found that global operations of WinZO were undertaken under the single app, meaning that they were being hosted from the India-based platform.

"It was also found that the funds by the Indian entity have been diverted to the US and Singapore under the garb of overseas investments.

"Funds worth USD 55 million (about Rs 489.90 crore) have been parked in their (WinZO) bank account in the US, which is a shell company since all the operations and day-to-day business activities and operation of bank accounts were done from India," the ED charged. PTI NES DIV DIV

Online gaming platforms face asset freezes under anti money laundering probes for allegedly retaining player funds and diverting deposits. Enforcement authorities invoked PMLA powers to freeze bank accounts, fixed deposits, mutual funds and bonds totalling about Rs 523 crore linked to WinZO, Gameskraft and associated entities as alleged proceeds of crime retained after bans on real money gaming. The measures target escrow payout accounts and corporate deposits; investigators allege withheld refunds to players, use of algorithms to generate gaming outcomes, impeded customer withdrawals, and diversion of funds to overseas accounts and shell entities.