MeitY draft Online Gaming Rules 2025 proposes gaming authority, 5-year registrations

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has released the draft Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2025, to be notified under Section 19 of the Online Gaming Act, 2025. The draft lays out the operating playbook for India’s new regime, creating an Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI), defining how e-sports and online social games will be recognised and registered, and setting validity, suspension and cancellation norms for registrations. The rules will come into force on a date to be notified after stakeholder feedback.

A key structural proposal is split oversight. E-sports promotion and recognition will be administered through the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, while promotion of online social games will be administered through the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. MeitY remains the nodal ministry for the rest of the framework. The draft also allows MIB to issue codes of practice/guidelines for categorising social games by purpose and age-appropriateness.

The rules formally establish OGAI as a body corporate headquartered in the National Capital Region, empowered to function as a digital office and adopt techno-legal measures that avoid physical appearances. The Authority’s composition is set at a MeitY Chairperson (Addl. Secy./JS rank), three ex-officio Joint Secretaries representing I&B, Sports and Financial Services, and two additional ex-officio members (at least one with legal expertise). It details quorum, voting, conflict-of-interest, and emergency decision procedures.

On market operations, the draft prescribes a 90-day decision window for OGAI to register an online social game or an e-sport after application (post determination that it is eligible). Once granted, a Certificate of Registration will carry a validity of up to five years (provider’s choice at the time of application), and games cannot be represented or advertised as “registered” without a valid certificate. OGAI will maintain a National Online Social Games & E-sports Registry of all registered titles and an index of games determined to be online money games under the Act.

The draft also defines “material change” (feature/revenue-model shifts that could convert a social game or e-sport into an online money game), and gives OGAI powers to suspend or cancel registrations if a title drifts into prohibited “online money game” territory, or violates the Act/other laws. In such cases, providers become ineligible for government promotion/support envisaged under the Act and may face action under sectoral laws.

Importantly, the text notes that an online social game may be offered without registration under Part IV (i.e., registration is not a precondition to operate), even as the government readies codes and a registry for safer, age-appropriate content classification. Stakeholder comments will be shaping the final notification timeline.