According to G2G News, Google will stop allowing advertisements for rummy and daily fantasy sports on its platforms in India. This change will take effect from January 21 of the current year.
The move marks a further tightening of Google’s advertising rules for real-money gaming in India. It follows an India-specific policy update announced by Google on January 7.
Under the updated policy, Google will remove rummy and daily fantasy sports from its permitted ad categories in India. This effectively excludes them from the company’s global advertising ecosystem. Many people link the change to previous legislative developments in the online gaming sector. However, Google did not provide a specific reason.
The policy shift follows the enactment of the PROGA, or Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. Parliament of India passed the law in August 2025. Although PROGA received presidential assent nearly five months ago, most real-money gaming operators halted operations shortly after the law passed. Authorities have not yet formally implemented it.
The new stance of Google also follows earlier regulatory and competition investigation. In September 2022, the company launched a one-year pilot allowing rummy and daily fantasy sports apps on the Play Store. Other skill-based gaming categories remained excluded. That decision caused WinZo, a multi-gaming platform to file an antitrust complaint with the Competition Commission of India.
In August of last year, Google submitted a commitment proposal to address the complaint. The proposal offered to allow other skill-based gaming apps and related advertising based on third-party certification. After Parliament passed PROGA and imposed restrictions on online money games, many now consider both the antitrust proceedings and Google’s proposal moot.
G2G News reports that Google’s policy change will likely have limited immediate impact, since most real-money gaming (RMG) companies have already shut down operations. Numerous petitions challenging the constitutionality of the law’s blanket restrictions on real-money gaming, including skill-based games like rummy and fantasy sports, are now in focus. These cases are before the Supreme Court of India, which has deferred substantive hearings and any ruling to early 2026.
