Shock waves are being sent by The Promotion and Regulation Online Gaming Act, 2025, by the investment ecosystem of India. This is far beyond the online gaming sector. Without sufficient public or industry consultations, parliament passed the new law with just a brief discussion. This sets a dangerous precedent that could jump business confidence across industries.
The government has abandoned the light-touch approach introduced by self-regulatory bodies in 2023.
It has instead imposed a blanket restriction on all forms of online money gaming, commonly known as real-money gaming. This includes its advertising and financial transactions. It ignored a judicially recognized distinction between games of skill and chance in the process. This move will kill a worldwide competitive sunrise sector in India, and drive bad actors, as well as practices underground. This is a harm purportedly wanted to be stopped by the Act in the first place.
The 2025 EY Media & Entertainment report states that India has 488 million gamers. Out of these, more than 155 million engage in the online money gaming segment. This makes it the single largest component of the gaming economy of the country. It said that the sector registered about 10% year-on-year growth. Gaming companies recently wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. They estimated that both direct and indirect revenue losses are close to ₹20,000 crore.
Karnataka Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge says that beyond taxes and investments, the sector funnels about ₹7,000 crore yearly into advertising, data centres, sponsorships, and cybersecurity. These are all critical parts of India’s digital and creative economy. A FICCI-EY report attributed over ₹50,000 crore in indirect job creation to the sector across gaming, digital marketing, and event management. The spillover benefits are huge, empowering gaming companies to experiment, develop new intellectual property, and pivot towards other creative offerings like free-to-play, indie, and AAA games.
