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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has prepared the Draft for the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2025 (“Draft Rules”). This act is a game-changer for esports in India as it recognises esports as an official sport. In this article, we have mentioned the key highlights of the Indian Online Gaming Rules 2025 Draft.
Indian Online Gaming Rules 2025 Draft Key Highlights
The provisions relating to the recognition and promotion of esports shall be administered by the Central Government through the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The draft establishes the Online Gaming Authority of India (“Authority”) to oversee the determination of whether an online game is an online money game or otherwise, recognition & registration of e-sports and online social games, compliance, grievance redressal, and enforcement.
The Authority will be composed of a Chairperson and five other ex officio members from various government ministries and is empowered to determine if a game is an "online money game," register games, issue directions, and impose penalties.
Registration for both e-sports and social games will be managed by the Online Gaming Authority of India.
For an e-sport title to be registered, it must first be recognized under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025.
The Authority will maintain and publish a National Online Social Games and E-sports Registry containing such details of all registered online social games and e-sports as deemed necessary by the Authority and a list of online games determined as online money games by the Authority.
Any online game service provider intending to provide an esports service shall make an application to the Authority.
Upon registering an online game as an esports, the Authority shall issue a certificate of registration to the online game service provider with a unique registration number. The Certificate of Registration shall be valid and subsisting for a period of up to five years, as chosen by the online game service provider at the time of making an application.
If the registration of an e-sport is cancelled under the rules, the online game service provider of such e-sport or online social game shall not be eligible to avail of the support or incentives for promotion and development of e-sport or online social game.
Every online game service provider offering registered esports shall establish and maintain a functional grievance redressal mechanism for redressal of grievances from any user in relation to the online social games or esports offered by it.
