Online Gaming Bill: Startups That Have Shut Real Money Gaming Ops

With the Rajya Sabha passing the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025’ today, the country’s real money gaming ecosystem’s worst fears came true. Following the passage of the Bill in the Upper House, a number of startups have discontinued their real money gaming operations.

Here’s a list of startups that have suspended their real money games.

Note: The list will be updated as and when more startups discontinue real money games.

Cricbuzz11

Months after launch, Times Internet-owned Cricbuzz11 has paused its operations. In a statement on the app, it said it is discontinuing operations.

“We are pausing all ‘Pay to Play’ fantasy sports contests on our platform. Your money is safe with us & your winnings can be withdrawn instantly,” the message read.

Times Internet’s cricket news platform Cricbuzz entered the fantasy gaming space in February 2025.

Gameskraft

Bootstrapped gaming startup Gameskraft has suspended the real money gaming offerings for its rummy games.

“We are pausing ‘Add Cash’ and ‘Gameplay services’ on our rummy apps. 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,” the startup said.

Founded in 2017 by Prithvi Raj Singh, Deepak Singh, Rajkumar Taneja, and Sindhu Devi Jha, Gameskraft operates real money gaming platforms such as RummyCulture, RummyPrime, Playship and LudoCulture.

Important to note that it had paused its online poker platform Pocket52 in May.

Mobile Premier League

MPL became the first startup unicorn to shut its real money gaming operations. The startup announced the suspension of all its games involving money on the MPL platform in India.

“Our foremost priority is our users. While new deposits will no longer be accepted, customers will be able to withdraw their balances seamlessly. However, online money games will not be available on the MPL platform anymore,” the startup said.

Founded by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubh Malhotra in 2018, MPL offered games across more than 60 games across categories such as daily fantasy sports, quizzing, board games, esports, and casual games on its mobile app.

Zupee

Gaming soonicorn Zupee said it has discontinued its “paid games” option, while its other games continue to be live. However, the startup’s website was down at the time of publishing the story while its apps were not available on the Google Play Store.

“In line with the new Online Gaming Bill 2025, we are discontinuing paid games, but our hugely popular free titles like Ludo Supreme, Ludo Turbo, Snakes & Ladders, and Trump Card Mania will continue to be available for all users for free,” a Zupee spokesperson said in a statement.

Founded in 2018 by Dilsher Malhi and Siddhant Saurabh, Zupee is a real money gaming platform that offers games like Ludo Supreme, Snakes & Ladders Plus, among others.

Probo

Troubled company Probo became the first player to officially shut its real money gaming 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 real-money gaming 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 company spokesperson said.

Probo was founded by Sachin Gupta and Ashish Garg in 2019 as an opinion trading platform that allows users to trade their opinions on future events across categories, including politics, cricket, and finance, among others.

(Edited by: Vinaykumar Rai)

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