The government has officially notified the rules to implement the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, marking a key step in regulating the sector. These rules provide the procedural framework needed to enforce the Act and will come into effect from May 1. With this, the government will also enable the establishment of an online gaming authority to oversee certain aspects of the industry.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) announced the rules on Wednesday after previously seeking feedback from stakeholders in October 2025. The ministry received around 2,500 responses during the consultation process. The new framework aims to balance regulation while allowing the industry to grow without excessive restrictions.

According to IT Secretary S Krishnan, most online games will not be required to undergo mandatory registration or classification, as long as they are not real-money games. Real money gaming has already been clearly banned under the Act. He emphasised that the government intends to keep the regulatory approach minimal for non-monetary games.

"...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.

He further clarified that there is no compulsion for developers to classify their games as online money games, social games, or esports. "We are not obligating anybody to apply to determine whether it is an online money game, or online social game, or esports."

However, the rules specify certain conditions under which oversight will be required. Determination of a game’s category will be triggered in three cases. The first is when the authority initiates it on its own. The second applies to esports games, which will require mandatory registration under the Act. The third situation arises if the central government notifies specific categories of social games, although no such categories have been announced yet.

"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 also clearly define user safety features to ensure protection for players. Overall, the Act focuses on banning online real money gaming while encouraging the growth of esports and online social gaming in India.