The Real Money Gaming (RMG) industry is divided over the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Regulations, 2025, with many operators skeptical about taking legal action against the Tamil Nadu government. While some RMG operators believe a formal lawsuit should be filed immediately, others are hesitant.
On Friday evening, the Tamil Nadu government officially published its gazette on the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (Real Money Games) Regulations, 2025. The regulations took effect immediately upon publication in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, leaving RMG operators scrambling to comply with the new rules or risk facing criminal liability.
According to highly placed sources, the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) has reached out to TNOGA for clarification and is seeking a meeting with the government to resolve issues affecting its member operators. If these issues cannot be resolved through consultations, AIGF is likely to take legal action. The gaming federations are expected to request a six-month window for implementing the regulations.
Previously, Storyboard18 reported that the RMG industry was preparing to challenge the Tamil Nadu government in court over its arbitrary “blank hour” regulations, which would prohibit gaming between midnight and 5 AM.
Tamil Nadu is a rapidly growing RMG market, and the TNOGA regulations will primarily impact pay-to-play games such as Rummy and Poker. Multiple RMG federations and operators are evaluating how to implement the TNOGA regulations. A legal expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated, “RMG operators must comply with the regulations once the gazette is published. Failure to do so could result in criminal liability for the companies.”
A leading RMG operator added, “The industry must unite and take a strong stance by filing a lawsuit against the arbitrary blank-hour order. TNOGA should have allowed the industry more time for implementation.”
The Tamil Nadu Online Gaming (Real Money Games) Regulations, 2025, mandates that all minors under the age of 18 be prohibited from playing online real-money games. In addition to Aadhaar verification, online gaming platforms must display pop-up warnings when a player engages in continuous gameplay for more than one hour. These caution messages must appear every 30 minutes, informing players of their total playtime.
“All online gaming providers must offer players options to set daily, weekly, and monthly monetary limits. Whenever a deposit is made, a pop-up message must display the player’s set monetary limit and the amount spent so far in clearly visible text.”
Caution messages must also be displayed continuously on the login pages of real-money gaming websites and apps, warning users about the addictive nature of these games with the statement: “ONLINE GAMING IS ADDICTIVE IN NATURE.”
The regulations also enforce blank hours from 12 AM to 5 AM. Since these rules are being implemented only in Tamil Nadu, they may lead to regulatory variations across different states in the future.
Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan, Tamil Nadu’s IT Minister, previously told Storyboard18 that TNOGA reports to the Home Ministry, while the RMG industry falls under the IT sector. He also noted that the state had held discussions and was in the process of forming a formal working group.
“We’ll clean up the gazette notifications and interpretations to ensure the focus remains strictly on real-money games and does not impact other areas. These are the growing pains of being a pioneer. When you’re the first to pass a law and establish an authority, it sometimes takes a few iterations to get it right,” he said.
It’s worth noting that in November 2023, the Madras High Court struck down the law banning online money games such as Rummy and Poker, declaring it “unconstitutional.”
A bench comprising Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu ruled that while the state government has the authority to regulate online gaming by imposing time limits or age restrictions on both games of skill and chance, it cannot ban games of skill, such as Rummy and Poker. The court clarified that the Act could only be used to prohibit games of chance, not games based on skill.