Gaming Crackdown: Not just rummy & poker - Dream11, MPL, My11Circle also stare at ban

With the government’s sweeping new law imposing a blanket ban on online money games, it’s not just the rummy and poker apps that vanish but even fantasy gaming giants like Dream11, My11Circle and MPL are staring at a ban. Yes, the law clubs them too, dealing a blow that could ripple across advertising, employment, sports sponsorships and even GST revenues.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, introduced by Ashwini Vaishnaw of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), cleared by the Cabinet and Parliament, prohibits any platform facilitating monetary transactions between users and operators. Esports is the lone exception, as in-game purchases for cosmetic upgrades or player enhancements continue to be treated as entertainment rather than betting.

For years, fantasy gaming operators defended their legitimacy by pointing to court rulings that recognised fantasy cricket and similar formats as games of skill. Indian courts had consistently held that such games involved judgment, discretion, and statistical analysis, thus distinguishing them from gambling. This judicial precedent allowed the likes of Dream11, My11Circle, MPL and others in the domain to build thriving businesses, heavily investing in advertising during the Indian Premier League.

The scale of that growth is evident in fresh numbers from the India Gaming Report 2025. As of 2024, the Indian gaming market stood at USD 3.7 billion, projected to reach USD 9.1 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 19.6%. While India accounts for just 1.1% of the USD 324 billion global gaming market, yet contributes around 20% of the world’s gaming user base and 15.1% of global gaming app downloads. That translated to as many as 11.2 billion downloads in 2024, far higher than the 8.6 billion tracked on Play Store and App Store alone.

If India’s market share were to converge with its global weight in users and downloads, the industry could swell to USD 60 billion by 2034, creating 2 million new jobs, spawning up to 5 decacorns and 10 unicorns, and unlocking USD 26 billion in investor value. The sector has already attracted USD 3 billion in FDI over the past five years, highlighting its strong fundamentals and its role as a formidable growth engine in India’s broader digital transformation story.

But the numbers don’t just stay on paper. Such rapid growth has inevitably spilled over into advertising, with fantasy platforms using cricket and especially the Indian Premier League (IPL) as their most powerful vehicle for visibility.

A major casualty of the law is the advertising and sponsorship ecosystem around fantasy gaming. Platforms like Dream11 and MPL have been deeply embedded in India’s sports economy, affecting sponsoring leagues, partnering with IPL teams, and signing top celebrities as brand ambassadors.

Advertising data highlight their aggressive presence. During IPL 2025, these platforms dramatically increased their television ad volume shares. As per data shared by TAM with exchange4media, the shares surged from 4-12% in the first two months of the year to a staggering 16 - 21% during the IPL season from March to May 2025. Fantasy gaming apps were practically omnipresent across cricket broadcasts, celebrity endorsements, and sponsorships.

My11Circle secured a central sponsorship deal worth ₹625 crore over five years, prompting Dream11 to recalibrate by tying up with five separate franchises, reflecting highly strategic brand positioning.

Dream11, too, has made marquee investments: it bagged the Team India jersey sponsorship from July 2023 to March 2026 at a base price of ₹358 crore.

The dominance of RMG platforms in India’s advertising ecosystem is best illustrated by the latest Top 10 Advertisers data by TAM. Zupee (advertised by Cashgrail) alone accounted for a staggering 47% share of all ad volumes in this category. Winzo Games followed with 22%, while Parimatch, a European sports betting platform, held 11%. Among fantasy gaming players, My11Circle had 7%, and Dream11 had 5%. Smaller but still notable presences came from PokerBaazi (0.2%), Ace2Three (2%), and 1xBet (1%).

This concentration highlights how deeply entrenched these platforms are in mainstream media. In fact, in certain weeks during the IPL, RMG apps collectively accounted for over two-thirds of ad volume shares, rivaling FMCG giants and telecom operators in visibility.

Legal experts say the ripple effects of the new law will hit this ecosystem hard. Sahil Arora, Partner at Saraf and Partners, notes: “The new law will certainly significantly disrupt the advertising and promotional activities of major players in the real-money gaming space. By introducing a blanket ban on the promotion and advertisement of online money games, the new law is expected to compel companies in the sector to suspend marketing and sponsorship activities. The ripple effects of this regulatory shift will likely be felt most acutely by upcoming domestic leagues, which have come to rely on advertising revenue from gaming companies for their operations.”

Optimistically, however, some in the media industry see opportunity in the churn. Vinay Hegde, CEO of Investments (Media) at Madison World, says: “The void created would mean sellers would have to try and court traditional advertisers like Auto and FMCG, as well as new-age clients like e-commerce and fintech, which would try to reclaim their dominance — especially since the negotiation power may tilt in their favor. These would be the short to medium-term implications. In the long term, the ecosystem will move away from the dependency on RMG, but it would be difficult for the sports category, especially, to find such aggressive spenders.”

The law’s sweep goes even further. Its provisions extend not only to companies operating in India but also to those based abroad if they target Indian users. This closes a long-standing loophole that allowed offshore platforms like Parimatch and Stake to bypass Indian regulations. As Paritosh Dhawan, Principal and Founder of Dhawan & Co., explains: “While courts have previously held that fantasy sports are games of skill and not gambling, the Bill defines online money games broadly. Any online game played by paying money in expectation of winnings (whether skill-based or chance-based) is covered.”