Centre notifies online game rules; norms to come into force from May 1

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on Wednesday notified the much-awaited rules providing the procedural framework to operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, which will also facilitate the creation of an online gaming authority.

Most online games – if they are not real money games, which are already and explicitly banned under the provisions – will not mandatorily need to be registered or determined, IT Secretary S Krishnan said.

Oversight will be triggered only in certain circumstances.

Esports, however, will require mandatory registration as specified in the parent Act.

"...We wanted to, as far as possible, keep this entire thing as regulation-light as possible. Most games, which are not money games, should be able to operate with no obligation to necessarily either be determined or registered. So that entire process is optional," he said.

"We are not obligating anybody to apply to determine whether it is an online money game, or online social game, or esports."

That said, such 'determination' will be triggered in three situations.

The first trigger is where it is done suo moto by the authority, and the second is where it involves esports games.

"And third, the central government may notify any specific category of social games, which, as of now, we have not notified anything specifically," Krishnan said.

The rules have also explicitly defined user safety features, Krishnan said.

The act itself bans online real money gaming, while promoting esports and online social gaming in India.

The ministry had invited feedback on these rules in October 2025 and received 2,500 inputs from stakeholders.

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