President’s Assent to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025
The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 has received the assent of the President on 22nd August 2025 and is now law.
Key Highlights:
- Scope: Extends to all of India and also covers online money gaming services operated from outside India.
- Categories of Games:
- E-sports – recognized as competitive sports, promoted with training, research centres, and events.
- Online social games – permitted for recreation/education, with no monetary stakes.
- Online money games – explicitly prohibited, irrespective of skill or chance.
- Prohibitions:
- Ban on offering, facilitating, or participating in online money gaming.
- Ban on advertisements promoting online money games.
- Ban on financial institutions facilitating transactions for such games.
- Regulatory Authority: Central Government empowered to constitute an Authority for Online Gaming to recognize, categorize, and regulate games.
- Penalties:
- Offering online money gaming services: imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to INR 1 crore (higher for repeat offences).
- Advertising: imprisonment up to 2 years or fine up to INR 50 lakh.
- Financial transactions: imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to INR 1 crore.
- Repeat offences attract stricter minimum punishments and higher fines.
- Nature of Offences: Offences under sections on gaming and fund transfers are cognizable and non-bailable.
- Enforcement: Central Government officers empowered to investigate, search, seize, and block online money gaming services.
- Overriding Effect: Act overrides inconsistent provisions of other laws, including IT Act provisions where necessary.
Read the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act here
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Read order here.
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Read order here
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Read more here.
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Read order here.
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Summons can be viewed here