Online Gaming Bill: MPL, Zupee, Gameskraft pause real-money games; Dream11 waiting for this step

India’s online gaming industry went into a tailspin on Thursday with leading platforms including Mobile Premier League (MPL), Zupee, Dream Sports, Gameskraft and Probo suspending their real-money gaming (RMG) offerings, after Parliament passed a landmark legislation banning all forms of online money games.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, cleared by Lok Sabha on Wednesday and by Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid din, seeks to ban money-based games while promoting eSports and online social or educational gaming.

It prohibits advertisements of money games and bars banks and financial institutions from processing related transactions.

The bill provides for setting up a statutory authority to regulate the sector and lays down strict provisions against offering or facilitating online money games.

Piloting the bill in the Upper House, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the move will protect society, particularly middle-class youth, from the lure of betting-based games. He stressed that while eSports and social games will be promoted, online money games have become a “big problem” and need to be banned outright.

Mobile Premier League (MPL)

Bengaluru-headquartered MPL announced the suspension of all its money-based offerings in India.

The company, which has over 120 million registered users across Asia, Europe and North America, said it will continue offering free-to-play competitive games.

“Effective immediately, we are suspending all gaming offerings involving money on the MPL platform in India… While new deposits will no longer be accepted, customers will be able to withdraw their balances seamlessly,” the company said in a LinkedIn post.

It added: “Our focus was always to be the largest competitive gaming platform in the world irrespective of the business model, and we remain committed to providing competitive, free to play, non-money based gaming experiences to our customers in India.”

MPL offers over 60 titles across categories like fantasy sports, quizzing, board and puzzle games on Android and iOS.

Zupee

Zupee, another popular skill-gaming company, said it will discontinue its paid games but keep its free titles such as Ludo Supreme, Ludo Turbo, Snakes & Ladders and Trump Card Mania available for users.

“Zupee remains fully operational and our players can continue to enjoy their favourite games on the platform. In line with the new Online Gaming Bill 2025, we are discontinuing paid games,” a company spokesperson said.

Dream11

Dream Sports, the parent of fantasy sports major Dream11, has also pressed pause on its real-money formats. The company suspended all ‘Pay to Play’ contests on its newly launched Dream Picks app as well as its casual gaming platform Dream Play.

“In view of the recent development pertaining to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, we are pausing all ‘Pay to Play’ Fantasy Sports contests on our platform. Your account balance is safe and available for you to withdraw from the Dream11 app,” a notice on its app said.

According to a Moneycontrol report, Dream Sports plans to extend the suspension to Dream11’s flagship paid contests once the law comes into force after Presidential assent.

The company posted a net profit of ₹188 crore on operating revenue of ₹6,384 crore in FY23.

Gameskraft

Bengaluru-based Gameskraft, which runs rummy platform RummyCulture, announced the suspension of ‘Add Cash’ and gameplay services.

“The withdrawal services continue to remain available in accordance with platform policies. We want to reassure that the users’ funds continue to be safe with us. This is a precautionary measure to ensure full compliance with the evolving legal framework,” the company said.

Gameskraft reported a profit of ₹947 crore on revenue of ₹3,475 crore in FY24. Opinion trading platform Probo also said it is immediately discontinuing RMG operations.

“As unfortunate as it is, we respect the government of India’s latest Online Gaming bill. In light of this development, Probo has decided to discontinue its RMG operations with immediate effect until further notice. We remain steadfast in our vision to innovate and build information markets from India, for the world,” a spokesperson said.

The new law makes it illegal to offer, aid, abet, induce or otherwise engage in money games, but does not criminalise individuals playing such games in order to avoid harassment.