In the hours after India’s President Droupadi Murmu granted assent to the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025’ aka the bill that banned online real money gaming in India, a curious stream of press releases landed in our inboxes.

One section of press releases from gaming startups bemoaned the act, calling it a big blow to India’s gaming industry, while other gaming startups were all-but celebrating it. It epitomises a long-running schism in Indian gaming: the uneasy coexistence of real money gaming on one side, and esports and video games on the other.

The bill, which is yet to be notified in the gazette, is in many ways not just a regulatory clampdown but the formal recognition of a split that has defined India’s gaming industry for years.

The likes of Dream 11, WinZO and others saw their valuations and business evaporate overnight. For the other half, particularly esports companies, video game studios, and developers building entertainment-first products, it is a quiet relief.

The “guilt by association” that shadowed the sector is finally gone, according to industry experts.

For game developers and esports startups, the ban on RMG feels like overdue justice. Real money gaming platforms and casual games were placed under the same regulatory umbrella, treated as one and the same. So much so that online gaming was often used as shorthand for online gambling, especially among critics of RMG.

Esports, Studios Recognised; RMG Banned

“The bill provides the esports industry with much-needed legitimacy and clarity. For years, being clubbed with real money gaming meant regulatory risks and made investors overly cautious about esports. But with the demarcation now officially recognised, the industry stands on firmer ground,” Animesh Agarwal, cofounder and CEO of S8UL, said.

Like Agarwal, many believe this conflation was toxic, and that’s perhaps why the game studios and development ecosystem was not about to start mourning the government’s actions.

Every time the Supreme Court or a high court debated the legality of real money or fantasy sports, the broader gaming industry found itself lumped into the same moral and legal debate. Esports........

© Inc42