India drafts new rules to regulate online gaming, carve out space for esports

India has proposed new rules to regulate online gaming and draw a sharper line between money-wagering platforms and skill-based digital entertainment, including esports, while setting up a powerful national authority with quasi-judicial powers.

The draft Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Rules, 2025, were released on Thursday under the recently enacted PROG Act, which bans games involving wagering, cash stakes, or winnings that can be converted into money. The government has invited public feedback on the rules until Oct. 31 after initially planning to skip consultations.

“We changed our minds due to requests from stakeholders,” an information technology ministry official said, as per the Hindustan Times.

At the centre of the proposal is the creation of the Online Gaming Authority of India, envisaged as a corporate body with powers similar to a civil court. It will register and certify social games and esports, maintain a national registry of approved titles, and determine whether a platform qualifies as a prohibited money game.

According to an explanatory note, the authority will function “as a corporate body with powers similar to a civil court to conduct inquiries and summon individuals.”

The regulator will be headquartered in the National Capital Region and led by a chairperson who will hold the rank of additional secretary in the IT ministry or an officer of at least joint secretary rank. Its membership will include three ex-officio joint secretaries representing the information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports, and financial services departments, alongside two directors - one with legal expertise - and a secretary. Outside experts may be called in when needed.

Under the draft rules, no online social game or esports title can operate or be advertised in India without registration and a certificate valid for up to five years. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting will oversee promotion of social online games, while the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will handle recognition of esports.

The authority will be able to suspend or cancel registrations, order banks and service providers to block illegal platforms, and impose penalties. Game providers will be required to set up grievance redress systems, with unresolved complaints escalating to a grievance appellate committee and then to the authority, which must resolve appeals within 30 days.

A transitional clause allows banks and intermediaries to refund player funds collected before the Act takes effect within a 180-day window, without such transfers being treated as support for illegal gaming.

Offering online money gaming could attract up to three years in prison and fines of as much as 10 million rupees ($112,718), while advertising such platforms may draw two-year jail terms and penalties of up to 5 million rupees.

The proposed framework represents the most detailed attempt yet by New Delhi to regulate a fast-growing and often controversial industry, while carving out space for esports and other digital entertainment offerings.