India has finalised a comprehensive regulatory framework for its online gaming sector, coming into force on 1 May 2026. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act 2025, alongside the accompanying Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules 2026, establishes clear boundaries between prohibited online money games and permissible categories such as e-sports and social games — and creates a central regulator to enforce those boundaries.
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The context: a country that banned real-money gaming
The new framework arrives less than a year after India enacted one of the most sweeping online gambling bans in the world. The 2025 Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill criminalised real-money online gaming and its advertisement, with penalties including fines and imprisonment of up to five years. The ban followed data suggesting that approximately a third of the population had lost an estimated $2.3 billion annually on wagers.
Within the first 90 days of the ban, real-money gaming platforms had reportedly recorded asset write-downs of more than $840 million — a stark illustration of the market’s immediate impact. Critics, however, warned that the law would simply redirect players to unregulated offshore sites rather than eliminating the activity.
How games will be classified
The new rules introduce an objective, time-bound classification system. Games will be assessed and placed into one of three categories: online money games — where users pay fees or stakes with a reasonable expectation of monetary gain, which remain prohibited; permissible social games; or e-sports. The Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) will make classification decisions within 90 days of a complete application, considering factors such as the nature of fees and stakes, the game’s revenue model, and whether in-game rewards or assets can be monetised outside the game environment.
The Online Gaming Authority of India
The centrepiece of the new framework is the establishment of OGAI, which will operate as an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), headquartered in Delhi. Led by the Additional Secretary of MeitY and supported by joint secretary-level representatives from other ministries, the Authority will maintain an official list of prohibited online money games, conduct inquiries, issue directives and establish codes of practice. It will also hear user appeals against platform grievance decisions and coordinate with financial regulatory agencies.
What comes next
The framework represents a significant step toward regulatory clarity in one of the world’s largest digital markets — but the fundamental tension identified by critics at the time of the ban remains unresolved. Whether a structured classification system and a new central regulator will be sufficient to keep Indian players on domestic, regulated platforms — rather than driving them toward the offshore sites that critics warned about — will be the defining question of the next phase of India’s online gaming story.
