New Delhi, April 22 (IANS). The government on Wednesday said that new rules will come into effect from May 1, 2026, to control the rapidly growing online gaming sector in the country.
This new framework has been prepared under the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025’, which aims to protect children and vulnerable sections from economic and mental harm, as well as make India a global hub of gaming and digital creativity.
These rules have been prepared by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). These rules will be implemented under the name ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026’, which decide the way to implement this law. This law was passed by the Parliament in August 2025.
The government has finalized these rules after discussions with several ministries and legal scrutiny, to ensure clarity and adherence to rules in this rapidly growing sector. Especially the growing concerns regarding money-related games and their addiction have been kept in mind.
Under this new system, a new organization named ‘Online Gaming Authority of India’ will be formed, which will monitor online gaming.
This organization will be based in New Delhi and will work under MeitY. It will include representatives from the Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Information and Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Law Ministry.
This authority will list online money games, enforce rules and prevent illegal transactions in collaboration with banks and law agencies.
The new rules also provide a process to decide which game is a ‘money game’ and which is a normal game or e-sports.
This decision will be taken on the basis of authority, companies’ applications or government notification. In this it will be seen whether money is being invested in the game or not, whether money is received on winning or not, and whether the game prize can be converted into money outside.
This process will have to be completed within 90 days, so that companies can get timely clarity.
A special thing about these rules is that the registration system has been implemented in it.
Registration will be required only for games that the government identifies based on risk, such as those where there is a high risk to users or high stakes.
Approved games will be given digital certificates for up to 10 years. At the same time, paid games will not be recognized as e-sports under the National Sports Administration Act, 2025.
–IANS
DBP