India's government plans to ban online games played with money, a proposed bill showed on Tuesday, in what would be a heavy blow for an industry that has attracted billions of dollars of foreign investment.>
Citing psychological and financial harm it says can be caused by such games, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025 says that no person "shall offer, aid, abet, induce or otherwise indulge or engage in" the offering of online money games and such services.
The 13-page bill, which has not yet been made public but has been reviewed by Reuters, describes an online money game as one played by a user by depositing money in expectation of winning monetary and other enrichment.
The Indian market for such gaming is set to be worth $3.6 billion by 2029, venture capital firm Lumikai says. Endorsements by top Indian cricketers and other marketing efforts have boosted appeal and investor interest of real money gaming apps such as the popular fantasy cricket games operated by startups Dream11 and Mobile Premier League.
Dream11 commands a valuation of $8 billion while Mobile Premier League is valued at $2.5 billion, PitchBook data shows.
TBH, the old coots sitting in the government right now don't understand the tech and innovation at all. They are such baboons who first gave a green signal (i.e. promoted) these gaming platforms to curb on the illegal betting market. And when the illegal betting market is slashing down rapidly, they have suddenly come up with the idea of banning Online Gaming a.k.a. fantasy sports because other kind of betting is already banned in India.