India's Government to Propose Blanket Ban on Real-Money Gaming
Article on TechCrunch today:
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/19/indias...
Real-money gaming companies are reeling as India moves to propose a blanket ban on their operations under a new legislation.
The Indian government plans to prohibit real-money games — whether based on skill or chance — under its proposed online gaming regulation, per a draft seen by TechCrunch, which was also verified by three sources, including one consultant with the Indian IT ministry and two people working closely with the Indian government and real-money gaming companies.
Proposed to be called the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, the legislation would restrict online games involving real-money stakes and outlaw both their advertisements and financial transactions.
“No bank, financial institution, or any other person facilitating financial transactions or authorization of funds shall engage in, permit, aid, abet, induce, or otherwise facilitate any transaction or authorization of funds towards payment for any online money gaming service,” the draft said.
5 Replies
.....from the country that brought Party Poker to market in 2001. ..... with a CEO literally named Dikshit.
They've passed the law. Really sucks as India was obviously going to be a huge possible emerging market and boost to player pools, given their massive population and quick growth.
im so glad their government is protecting their people from getting check raised on the river
Hopefully they play on coinpoker
They've passed the law. Really sucks as India was obviously going to be a huge possible emerging market and boost to player pools, given their massive population and quick growth.
Yeah... it's a big deal to global pop pools:
According to the India Gaming Report 2025, the domestic gaming market was valued at USD 3.7 billion and was projected to reach USD 9.1 billion by 2029.
Despite representing just 1.1% of the global gaming market, India accounts for roughly 20% of the world’s gaming user base and over 15% of global gaming app downloads.
There's still some options for Indian players, but they will need to get more creative, like Americans did.
