IN A MAJOR REGULATORY SHIFT for India’s digital economy, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 and its accompanying rules are set to come into force from May 1, 2026, following formal notification by the government. The move establishes a comprehensive national framework for the online gaming industry balancing promotion of e-sports and casual gaming with a strict crackdown on real-money gaming and betting platforms.
At the heart of the new framework is the creation of a central regulatory authority. The government has constituted the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. the authority will act as the central regulator responsible for overseeing the implementation of the new compliance framework.
The OGAI will be chaired ex-officio by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Its members will include Joint Secretaries from key ministries and departments, namely the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Financial Services (Ministry of Finance), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and the Department of Legal Affairs (Ministry of Law and Justice). While gaming businesses are not required to mandatorily register with the authority to continue their operations, the OGAI retains the power to review and examine any game suo motu.
The updated rules aim to strike a balance between encouraging innovation in non-monetised games while tightening oversight on high-risk and real-money gaming segments. The move builds on the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which created India’s first unified national framework for the industry.
The government is expected to relax compliance norms for low-risk games, especially social games, casual mobile games, and non-monetised (free-to-play) platforms. Mandatory registration may be removed for such games, with many treated as “deemed approved”. Earlier proposals requiring all games to register with a central authority are being scaled back to reduce compliance burden and support startups and developers. This is expected to boost India’s gaming ecosystem by lowering entry barriers and encouraging innovation.
Games involving money, betting, or financial stakes will face stringent scrutiny under the framework. The 2025 law already defines “online money games” as those involving stakes or expectation of winnings and had imposed a nationwide ban on real-money gaming platforms. The new rules are likely to require mandatory registration and approval for such games, introduce risk-based classification, and enable authorities to flag harmful or unsafe games. Officials have indicated that factors such as national security, content, and potential harm may determine whether a game requires registration.
The rollout comes amid an ongoing crackdown on illegal platforms:. Over 8,300 betting and gambling websites have been blocked by the government and authorities continue to ban offshore gaming apps, restrict payment processing for illegal platforms, and monitor digital transactions related to gaming.
