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ARTICLE · 17 APRIL 2023

New Rules Of The Game | Online Gaming

Khaitan & Co.
Khaitan & Co.
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Over the past year, the Union Government has taken incremental steps towards regulating online gaming with ‘real money'. MEITY was made the nodal ministry for online gaming and e-sports as part of multi-sports events.

IndiaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Ganesh Prasad
Ganesh Prasad
Surbhi Kejriwal
Surbhi Kejriwal
Tanu Banerjee
Tanu Banerjee
Supratim Chakraborty
Supratim Chakraborty
Harsh Walia
Harsh Walia
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Over the past year, the Union Government has taken incremental steps towards regulating online gaming with 'real money'. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) was made the nodal ministry for online gaming and e-sports as part of multi-sports events. MEITY initiated a consultation process on 2 January 2023 and published draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (IT Rules 2021) enacted under the Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act). Our earlier newsletter on the draft amendments proposed by MEITY can be accessed here.

On 6 April 2023, MEITY notified amendments (Amendment) to the IT Rules 2021 which largely relate to the online gaming industry. Most notably, the Amendment: (i) provides a self-regulatory structure for the online gaming industry; (ii) introduces specific categories / definitions of 'online games', 'online real money games', 'permissible online games', and

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