NEW DELHI: The Central government has directed every ministry and department to reach out to the public and highlight the positive outcomes of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which has formalised e-sports, social and educational gaming, and criminalised real-money online gaming.
It has also directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) to highlight the adverse effects of illegal online gaming in society.
“Secretaries and officers of ministries/departments should make all possible efforts and use all opportunities to highlight positive outcomes for society initiated by the government through the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, and share details with the Cabinet Secretariat,” stated Union Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan in the directives to all the secretaries and officers of ministries and departments this week.
The health and technology ministries have been separately told to compile research-backed evidence of the financial and psychological harm caused by real-money gaming, the data that the government plans to circulate widely.
The directives also stated that Secretary of MeitY and Secretary of MoHFW to circulate “notes on the adverse financial/health/psychological effects on youth and vulnerable population for wide publicity, based on the findings of relevant studies and available statistical data”. The directives also stated that the officers concerned have to implement it at full length and there has to be complete compliance with it.
The Online Gaming Act has two things: firstly, it formally recognises e-sports as a national competitive sport and builds state infrastructure around the gaming sector, and secondly, it shuts down the real-money online gaming industry and makes it a criminal offence to operate, advertise or bank for it. The government, through a public campaign, wants to validate the law’s rationale, win over an industry around it and demonstrate the development side of the legislation.
The Act preamble describes the gaming sector as “one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing segments of the digital and creative economy” and says the country has the young talent to become a global leader.
The Act describes harms like addiction, financial ruin, money laundering, undisclosed bots and manipulative algorithms and concludes that real-money gaming had to be removed from the equation entirely to allow the legitimate sector to grow. E-sports, defined in the Act as organised, multiplayer, skill-determined competitions with no wagering element, are now recognised as a legitimate sport under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025.