The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is preparing to summon one of the most successful athletes and cricketing heroes, MS Dhoni, to interrogate him in an enormous money laundering investigation related to a popular gaming app WinZO. The news, which was announced on November 28, 2025, has caused shockwaves in the sports and business circles since Dhoni, being the face of the ads made by WinZO, is now in the limelight. As the co-founders of the app are already in custody and ₹520 crore of their assets are frozen, this case reveals the ugly side of the booming online gaming business in India whereby, fraudulent activities, fixed matches and dubious offshore transactions can bring even a national hero down.
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Co-founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018, WinZO, which promised a skill-based fun experience, became the biggest app with more than 250 million users in 2018 in games such as Ludo, Carrom, and Chess. However, behind the glittering advertisements with the smiling face of Dhoni, there are allegations that are giving a dark picture. The raids on Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Delhi by the ED revealed that there was evidence of users being duped into playing against fraudulent algorithms rather than real players in cash tournaments incurring huge losses. Reports of blocking of accounts without explanation, misuse of PAN data as a fake ID, and 43 crore in gamer funds being stuck in escrow despite the government banning real-money gaming in August 2025, were received all across India. One of the users lost lakhs in a night terming it as a complete scam in the guise of entertainment.
The investigation links WinZO to larger fraud rings, such as connection to Gameskraft and Pocket52, in which money was laundered to offshore shell companies in the US – approximately $55 million (₹490 crore) laundered away with all operations based in India. According to ED, this was pure laundering and the unscrupulous activities of the app were against the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). After receiving intense grilling, on November 26 Nanda and Rathore were arrested and when presented before a Bengaluru court were remanded to a 10-day custody. Bank balances, bonds, fixed deposits, and mutual funds that have a value of 505 to 523 crores are frozen. WinZO boasts that it is legal and player-friendly, but the frozen accounts say otherwise consumers who have been cheated out of their fortunes.
Dhoni’s connection? Being the high-profile brand ambassador of WinZO since 2022, he featured in various advertisement campaigns promoting the app as a secure and entertaining means of getting money. There are reports that the ED is considering him as one of the crucial witnesses, and he may be investigating whether he was aware of the innerworking or whether his participation was part of attracting naive fans. The sources suggest summons as early as next week, a recurrence of prior headaches such as the 2024 Jharkhand High Court notice of a 15 crore cricket academy fraud or the 2016 FIR of his wife Sakshi of a different scam. Fans are gasping; one said on Twitter, MSD, our Thala, in ED?. WinZO was my choice, now it is like a trap. The social media is full of memes and uproar: “IPL wins to fraud spins – Dhoni needs a better deal, but celebrities need to check these deals.
It is not only on a single application but a wake-up call to the 1.5 lakh crore gaming industry full of uncontrolled cash games exploiting the young generation. The bans were already too late, and they are currently striking with arrests, freezes, and summons of celebrities. To Dhoni, a man who has carefully created an image of squeaky-clean since he retired, this may smear his legacy in case the relationship goes beyond adverts. ED excavation will show whether it is just the endorsement gone awry or it will be more glutious.
The cricket enthusiasts and investors are nervously observing the case. WinZO goes down, yet the ones who really lose? The thousands of participants who place huge bets on a fixed game. Keep watching it could be this probe that will rewrite the gaming and stardom rules in India.
