Online Gaming Act to come into effect from Oct 1, says Vaishnaw

New Delhi: The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act that bans all forms of online money games, would be implemented from October 1, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.

The Act, passed by Parliament last month, bars all forms of online money games while promoting e-sports and other online games.

“The rules will be promulgated with effect from October 1,” Vaishnaw said during a pre-event conference for the planned AI Impact Summit 2026 India.

The minister said that the government had engaged in discussions with the industry, even after the online gaming legislation was passed.

“We have engaged with the industry, we have had multiple discussions with them, we have been having discussions with them for last almost three years. After passing the law, once again, we engaged with them, we also engaged with the banks and practically all stakeholders possible, and we have finalised the rules,” he said.

The government will hold one more round of discussions with the industry, he promised, asserting that the Centre favours a consultative approach.

“...and in case they need some more time, we will definitely look at a more consultative approach, which has been our approach on practically everything we do. But at this point of time, we are targeting that we start the implementation of new legislation from October 1,” he said.

Sources said one of the concerns flagged by the industry is around how to return the money that is still left in user accounts. The government has held extensive discussions with the banks and arrived at a solution now, Vaishnaw said.

Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, in August banning all forms of online money games, while promoting e-sports and online social games.

Now an Act, after the President’s nod, it aims to crack down on rising instances of addiction, money laundering and financial fraud through such applications. Following the passage of the Bill in Parliament, online gaming platforms, including Dream11, My11Circle, WinZO, Zupee, and Nazara Technologies-backed PokerBaazi, have halted their real-money online gaming offerings.