BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is turning up the heat on online gaming! On Monday, India’s financial crime watchdog announced it has frozen a whopping Rs 524 crore from two popular gaming companies amid shocking money laundering probes. These cases revolve around cheating allegations, rigged games, fund misuse, and continuing business despite a nationwide ban on real-money gaming. Between November 18 and 22, the ED carried out intense searches across Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru targeting WinZO Games and Nirdesa Networks, which runs Pocket52. The raids uncovered massive financial irregularities. The biggest blow hit WinZO. The ED froze close to Rs 505 crore spread across bank balances, fixed deposits, bonds, and mutual funds. This probe started after multiple FIRs rolled in, accusing WinZO of cheating users, faking identities, blocking user accounts, misusing PAN details, and robbing customers of their money. Many users also claimed their KYC data was stolen and misused. Surprisingly, even after the central government banned real-money games from August 22, 2025, WinZO allegedly continued real-money gaming in Brazil, the US, and Germany — all operated from India. The agency also revealed that Rs 43 crore belonging to customers remain stuck with the company, not refunded. ED investigators claim WinZO secretly used computer algorithms to match players instead of real opponents, limited withdrawals, and generated illegal profits from user losses. They uncovered evidence of funds being slyly shifted abroad, including a massive $55 million (Rs 489.9 crore) parked in a US bank in an entity called “WinZO US Inc.” Responding, a WinZO spokesperson said, "we have been cooperating fully with the investigating agency and will continue to support the process. Fairness and transparency are core to how WinZO designs and operates its platform… WinZO remains fully compliant with all applicable laws." In a separate whirlwind of action, the ED raided offices of Nirdesa Networks, its tech arm Gameskraft, and homes of company directors. This probe started after a Karnataka Police FIR accused Pocket52 of rigging games, players colluding, scrapping transparency like hand histories, restricting withdrawals, and ignoring responsible gaming rules. One complainant shockingly lost over Rs 3 crore, calling it "systemic cheating." From the raids, police seized laptops, phones, and mountains of backed-up data. Pocket52 allegedly holds over Rs 30 crore in escrow accounts without returning users' money. The ED froze eight escrow accounts containing Rs 18.57 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These moves mark some of the biggest enforcement blows since the Union government’s sweep against real-money gaming. The ED confirmed that deep investigations are still underway in both high-stakes cases. The online gaming world is watching nervously as the crackdown tightens.