Highlights
- Real Money Gaming (Banned): Any game involving fee payments or expectations of winning money/convertible stakes, regardless of skill or chance elements. Examples include poker, rummy, fantasy cricket, and certain Ludo variants. Now completely prohibited with advertising bans.
- Esports (Government-Promoted): Competitive games recognized under the National Sports Governance Act and registered with regulatory authorities. Can include registration fees and performance-based prize money within a regulated framework. Examples include League of Legends, CS:GO, Battlegrounds Mobile India and Call of Duty.
- Social Gaming (Government-Facilitated): Entertainment and education-focused games played on digital devices through the internet. May include in-app purchases for cosmetic items or upgrades, but without wagering or convertible stakes. Promoted for recreational and educational purposes.
India's gaming landscape underwent a dramatic transformation in August 2025 when the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill became law after a remarkably swift legislative process. The Lok Sabha passed the bill on August 20 after just seven minutes of discussion, the Rajya Sabha approved it the next day, and it received Presidential Assent on August 22.
This new legislation fundamentally reshapes how we understand online gaming in India by creating three distinct categories with very different regulatory treatment. For the country's 591 million gamers and the companies serving them, understanding these categories is crucial for navigating the new legal landscape.
The Three Categories Explained
Real Money Gaming (RMG): The Banned Category
The Act defines real money gaming broadly as any online game played regardless of whether it's based on skill, chance, or both, that involves fee payment or expectations of winning money or other stakes. These stakes can include credits, coins, tokens, virtual money, or anything else convertible to actual money.
Under this definition, popular games and platforms face complete prohibition. Variants of poker, rummy, fantasy cricket, and even certain versions of Ludo are now classified as RMG. This affects major platforms that have celebrity endorsements, including Dream11 (represented by Ranbir Kapoor and Aamir Khan), WinZo (M.S. Dhoni), RummyCircle (Hrithik Roshan), and My11Circle (Sourav Ganguly).
The ban represents a significant shift from the previous landscape where RMG dominated the market, contributing around 86% of total gaming revenues in 2024. These platforms had operated in a legal gray area, often arguing that skill-based games should be treated differently from pure gambling.
Esports: The Government-Endorsed Category
Esports receives official recognition and active promotion under the new framework. The Act defines esports as games recognized under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, and registered with the proposed regulatory authority.
Importantly, esports can include registration or participation fees alongside performance-based prize money. This distinguishes them from banned RMG because the competitive structure and government recognition create a different legal category entirely. Examples of games that fall under esports include League of Legends, CS:GO, Battlegrounds Mobile India and Call of Duty.
This governmental endorsement positions esports as legitimate competitive activities rather than gambling, aligning India with global trends that recognize esports as official sports in many countries.
Social Gaming: Entertainment and Education Focus
Social gaming lacks a specific legal definition in the Act but falls under the broader category of online games, defined as games played on electronic or digital devices through Internet-connected software. Section 4 of the Bill empowers the government to facilitate the development and availability of online social games for recreational and educational purposes.
This category encompasses multiplayer video games, casual mobile games, and free-to-play titles. These games may include in-app purchases for cosmetic items, upgrades, or access passes, provided these purchases don't constitute wagering or involve convertible stakes that could be classified as real money gaming.
Key Distinctions That Matter
Understanding what separates these categories is crucial for both players and industry stakeholders:
Financial Risk: RMG involves direct financial risk where players can lose real money. Esports may involve entry fees but operates within a regulated competitive framework. Social gaming focuses on entertainment with optional purchases that don't involve financial risk in a gambling sense.
Regulatory Treatment: RMG faces complete prohibition and advertising bans. Esports receives government promotion and recognition. Social gaming gets facilitation for recreational and educational purposes.
Monetization Models: RMG platforms previously generated revenue through entry fees, commissions, and bet margins. Esports will likely focus on tournament fees, sponsorships, and prize pools within regulatory frameworks. Social gaming relies on in-app purchases, advertising, subscriptions, and premium content sales.
The success of this three-tier framework will depend heavily on how effectively the proposed regulatory authority implements and enforces these distinctions. Clear guidelines for what constitutes acceptable esports and social gaming will be crucial for industry compliance.
The legislation also raises questions about enforcement, particularly regarding offshore RMG platforms that may continue serving Indian users. The government's ability to support the promoted categories while effectively banning RMG will determine whether this approach achieves its stated goals of promoting healthy gaming while preventing gambling-related harms.
For India's massive gaming community and the global gaming industry, this represents a unique regulatory experiment that other countries with large gaming populations will likely observe closely as they develop their own approaches to digital entertainment regulation.
