In a significant escalation of its probe, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen fresh assets worth Rs 192 crore belonging to the popular real-money gaming platform WinZO. The latest action follows searches conducted at the company's accounting firm on December 30.
Fresh Funds Frozen in Ongoing Probe
The federal agency stated that the frozen amount, identified as "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), is held by ZO Games Pvt. Ltd., the fully-owned Indian subsidiary of WinZO. The seized assets include bank balances, fixed deposits, and mutual funds.
This development comes on the heels of a previous action in November, where the ED had frozen bonds, FDs, and mutual funds worth approximately Rs 505 crore. With the latest freeze, the total value of assets seized in this case has reached around Rs 697 crore. The ED has quantified the total proceeds of crime at a staggering Rs 802 crore.
Allegations of Bot-Driven Fraud and Founder Arrests
The investigation alleges that WinZO engaged in unscrupulous and criminal practices by making customers play against bots, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and software algorithms instead of real human players. The agency claims this was done without informing the users.
According to the ED, software named 'PPP, EP, and Persona' were used to simulate human opponents. The agency alleges that between May 2024 and August 2025 alone, the company generated winnings of about Rs 177 crore from these bot-matches, earning a "Rake Commission." A similar sum of Rs 557 crore was allegedly generated between April 2022 and December 2023.
Furthermore, the ED claims that even after the Union government's ban on real-money online gaming in late 2024, WinZO was in possession of users' money worth Rs 43 crore and had limited or prevented withdrawals from customer wallets.
In a related move, the ED had arrested WinZO founders Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda in November following questioning in Bengaluru. While a Bengaluru court granted bail to Rathore recently, Nanda's bail plea was denied.
Funds Moved Overseas and Company's Stance
The probe agency has made a serious allegation that a portion of the illicit funds has been moved out of India to the United States and Singapore "under the garb of overseas investments." Specifically, the ED claims that USD 54 million has been parked in a US bank account held in the name of WINZO US Inc., which it describes as a "shell company" as all operations are allegedly managed from India.
Reacting to the earlier charges in November, a WinZO spokesperson had emphasized that "Fairness and transparency are core to how WinZO designs and operates its platform." The company's response to these latest allegations is awaited.
The case underscores the increasing regulatory scrutiny on the fast-growing online real-money gaming sector in India, with authorities focusing on potential financial malfeasance and consumer protection.
