India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 prohibits online money games, including games of skill, games of chance and games combining both. The government’s framework also covers their advertising, promotion, facilitation and associated financial transactions, while setting up a regulatory system for categories such as esports and online social games. The often-cited $23 billion figure is an industry-body estimate of combined enterprise valuation—not annual revenue, the size of the whole gaming market or a measured loss caused by the ban.
What India’s online gaming law prohibits
Parliament’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 received presidential assent on August 22, 2025. The law draws a distinction between online money games and other online gaming categories that the government says it intends to promote or regulate, including esports, educational games and social gaming.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting described the prohibition this way in a March 18, 2026 release: “The Gaming Act comprehensively prohibits all forms of online money games, whether involving games of chance, games of skill, or any combination thereof.” In the government’s account, the restrictions extend beyond offering or operating such games to advertising, promotion, facilitation and associated financial transactions.
That means “skill-based” is not, by itself, an exemption under the government’s description of the ban. The rules summary says the Online Gaming Authority of India can determine whether a game is an online money game, alongside classifying and registering games within the framework. The precise treatment of a particular game depends on the legal definitions and the Authority’s process; a game’s marketing label alone does not establish its legal category.
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When the framework took effect
A Press Information Bureau summary published April 22, 2026 says the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026 take effect on May 1, 2026. MeitY’s official index also lists an April 22 Gazette notification for the Act’s enforcement date. These are distinct legal instruments: the date in the rules summary should not be taken as a substitute for the Act’s commencement notification.
How the rules treat permitted games
The 2026 rules summary describes a central Online Gaming Authority of India with responsibilities that include classification and registration, determinations about whether a game is a money game, codes of practice and public grievances. Permissible games are therefore not simply outside the framework; they may be subject to oversight and registration requirements.
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The summary also identifies safety and accountability measures, including age verification and age gating, time restrictions, parental controls, user reporting, counselling support and fair-play monitoring. It describes a two-tier grievance process for users of covered permissible games. These are features of the framework as summarized by the government; the summary does not establish that every safeguard applies in exactly the same way to every game or provider.
What the $23 billion estimate measures—and what it does not
TechCrunch reported on August 20, 2025 that three industry bodies estimated the combined enterprise valuation of affected businesses at ₹2 trillion, or about $23 billion. Enterprise valuation is an estimate of business value; it is not the same as annual sales, market revenue, tax paid or money lost after the ban. The report did not establish a valuation methodology that would let readers independently test the figure.
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The same industry bodies, as reported by TechCrunch, cited ₹310 billion in cumulative revenue and ₹200 billion in annual direct and indirect taxes. Those figures have different time bases and measures from the valuation estimate. The report also attributed warnings to industry bodies that more than 200,000 jobs could be at risk and over 400 companies could close. They were forecasts of potential effects, not verified counts of job losses or closures.
Why the later government market figures are different
A government overview published in April 2026 gives a separate measure: it reports that India’s overall online-gaming market was ₹232 billion in 2024, with transaction-based games accounting for 77 percent of that year’s revenue, and projects the overall market to reach ₹316 billion by 2027. The same overview estimates that 45 crore people were affected by online money-gaming platforms and that losses exceeded ₹20,000 crore; the published note does not set out the methodology behind those estimates.
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| Figure | What it describes | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| ₹2 trillion (about $23 billion) | Combined enterprise valuation attributed to three industry bodies | Reported by TechCrunch, August 20, 2025; not annual revenue or a measured loss |
| ₹310 billion | Cumulative revenue cited by the same industry bodies | Reported by TechCrunch, August 20, 2025 |
| ₹200 billion | Annual direct and indirect taxes cited by the same industry bodies | Reported by TechCrunch, August 20, 2025 |
| ₹232 billion | Overall Indian online-gaming market in 2024 | Government overview, April 2026 |
| 77 percent | Share of 2024 online-gaming revenue attributed to transaction-based games | Government overview, April 2026 |
| ₹316 billion | Projected overall online-gaming market size by 2027 | Government projection published in April 2026 |
These figures should not be substituted for one another. The $23 billion figure is a valuation attributed to businesses associated with online money gaming; the ₹232 billion figure is a reported 2024 market value for the broader online-gaming sector. They differ in population, measure, period and source. The government’s “transaction-based” category also should not automatically be treated as identical to the Act’s legal category of “online money games.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What players and households should consider
The ban reaches payment processing associated with prohibited games, so the change is not limited to a game’s app or website. But the cited government summaries do not establish a universal refund process for balances, deposits or prizes, nor do they confirm company-by-company closures, layoffs or business pivots. Do not assume that an announced restriction itself guarantees a refund or determines what a particular provider will do.
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- Check whether a game or service is being treated as an online money game under the applicable framework rather than relying only on its description as a game of skill.
- For questions about a balance, withdrawal or account, consult the provider’s notices and terms, and retain relevant transaction records. The available government summaries do not specify a general consumer refund entitlement.
- For a complaint involving a covered permissible game, consult the provider’s grievance route and the Authority process described in the rules summary.
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