The Madras High Court has upheld the Tamil Nadu government’s recent regulations on the real-money gaming (RMG) industry, which impose time and usage restrictions, dealing yet another blow to a sector already navigating a turbulent period.
A bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice K Rajasekar dismissed all the writ petitions filed by a group of real-money gaming companies, including Games24x7, Junglee Games, Head Digital Works, and WinZO and associations, such as the Esports Players Welfare Association (EPWA).
The bench noted that the state had framed the regulations not merely under the guise of paternalism, but also to safeguard the physical and mental well-being of players. The judgment is likely to be challenged in the Supreme Court, industry experts said.
RMG firms had approached Madras HC in February 2025 after Tamil Nadu had notified a set of state-specific regulations that introduced time and usage curbs on RMG platforms.
The regulations, issued by the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (TNOGA), is part of the state's broader efforts to regulate the burgeoning sector. Under these rules, RMG platforms have to impose 'blank hours' between midnight and 5 am, disabling login during these restricted five hours.
The guidelines also prohibit minors from playing real-money games and mandate companies to offer players the ability to set daily, weekly and monthly monetary limits.
Additionally, platforms should display pop-up caution messages when a player has been playing for more than one hour, and continue to display them every 30 minutes to remind them of their playtime. RMG apps should also continuously display caution messages about the addictive nature of these games, with the wordings "ONLINE GAMING IS ADDICTIVE IN NATURE" on their respective login pages.
Whenever players deposit the money, RMG apps should also display the fixed monetary limit and the amount spent so far, in "reasonably bold letters", the guidelines stated.
Other measures include mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) verification at the time of account creation. The initial login authentication will require KYC verification through Aadhaar, authenticated by a second-layer verification through One Time Password (OTP) sent to the phone number linked to the Aadhaar number.
These rules came after the Madras High Court had set aside the state ban on online rummy and poker in November 2023. At the time, the court had mentioned that the state government is free to formulate rules to regulate the time spent or impose age limits for these real-money games.
These developments also come at a time when India is yet to implement a central regulatory framework for the sector.
In April 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified gaming-related amendments to the IT Act, 2021, which allowed multiple self-regulatory organisations (SROs) to determine whether a real-money game could be permitted in India or not. However, the ministry is said to have later dropped the SRO plan.
The judgment may set a precedent wherein other states may also try and impose similar restrictions and it may become impossible for RMG companies to comply with varying restrictions of different states, said Jay Sayta, a technology and gaming lawyer.
Over the years, several RMG companies have pushed for a uniform central regulation to eliminate the uncertainty of navigating through various state-specific regulations that frequently disrupts their business operations.
The Indian gaming industry reported revenues of $3.8 billion for the financial year 2024, a 22.6 percent growth from $3.1 billion in FY23, according to a report by the gaming and interactive media venture fund Lumikai. Of the $3.8 billion in revenue, about $2.4 billion came from the real-money gaming segment.
The report also said the sector is estimated to cross $9.2 billion in revenue by FY29 at a 20 percent CAGR over the next five years.
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