The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has frozen assets worth ₹192 crore linked to real-money online gaming platform WinZO, following searches conducted at the premises of the company’s accounting firm.
The search operation was carried out on December 30 at the office of the auditor of ZO Games Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned Indian subsidiary of WinZO Pvt. Ltd. During the action, the federal probe agency froze fresh deposits classified as alleged “proceeds of crime” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to the ED, the frozen assets include bank balances, fixed deposits and mutual fund investments aggregating around ₹192 crore.
Founders arrested, partial relief from court
In November, the ED had arrested WinZO co-founders Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda after questioning them at its Bengaluru zonal office. While a Bengaluru court later granted bail to Rathore, Nanda’s bail plea was rejected.
This is not the first enforcement action in the case. During an earlier round of searches in November, the ED had frozen bonds, fixed deposits and mutual funds worth about ₹505 crore allegedly held by WinZO.
Serious allegations against the gaming platform
The ED has accused WinZO of engaging in criminal and unfair trade practices, alleging that users were unknowingly made to play games against bots powered by AI and algorithms, rather than real human players. The agency claimed these systems—named PPP, EP and Persona—were used without adequate disclosure to customers.
According to the probe agency, the company also restricted customer withdrawals and earned illicit income in the form of “rake commission” from games played between bots and real users.
The ED alleged that WinZO generated:
- ₹177 crore between May 2024 and August 2025, and
- ₹557 crore between April 2022 and December 2023,
from such activities.
It further claimed that the company retained ₹43 crore of user funds even after the Union government banned real-money online gaming in late 2024.
Overseas fund transfers under scrutiny
The ED has pegged the total proceeds of crime at around ₹802 crore. A portion of these funds was allegedly transferred overseas to the US and Singapore under the guise of foreign investments.
As per the agency, around USD 54 million has been parked in a US bank account held in the name of WINZO US Inc., which it described as a shell company, alleging that all operational control remains in India.
WinZO has earlier denied wrongdoing, stating that fairness and transparency are central to its platform design and operations.
