Athira Sethu
Kochi, 25 August 2025
The government of India recently approved a new act known as the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. This act prohibits all online games in which players pay money to participate and stand a chance to win money. Such games are referred to as real-money games (RMGs) and include fantasy sports, rummy, poker, and more. Such companies were not permitted to do business in India anymore.
The government stated that the motivation behind banning these games is to save people from addiction, loss of money, and fraud. It also seeks to encourage healthy gaming such as e-sports, social games, and learning games, which are not prohibited.
Due to this new legislation, most popular firms such as Dream11, Games24x7, WinZO, MPL, and PokerBaazi have closed their money-games in India. Rather than quitting, however, these firms are altering strategies to exist and prosper differently.
What Gaming Firms Are Doing Now
1. Requesting Clearer Rules
Businesses are now requesting the government to put forward in simple words the distinction between games of chance (which they feel must be legalized) and games of skill. Some businesses might even go to court over it.
2. Emphasizing E-Sports
Businesses are resorting to e-sports, where gamers compete in computer game tournaments for rewards. These are legal and endorsed by the government.
3. Modifying Business Models
Some websites are providing free games with advertisement support rather than charging customers to play. They are less lucrative, yet legal.
4. Going Global
Businesses are moving their business to other countries where real-money gaming is permitted.
5. Making Games Safer
They are also enhancing user security, encouraging responsible gaming, and incorporating improved self-rules to win the trust of players and regulators.
6. Marketing in New Ways
Some firms employ small influencers, private messages, and camouflaged links to keep in touch with customers. Some off-shore sites are even employing spurious ads and celebrity images to bring players to the site.
The new legislation has presented huge challenges to India’s online gaming industry. Rather than shutting down altogether, though, many companies are transforming. They are restructuring the way they do business, the locations they do business from, and the way they reach customers. Whether these new tactics will prove successful in the long term is yet to be determined.
