Ban, brand, or bust? When the house calls game over

The Lok Sabha’s approval of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, signals a turning point for India’s fast-growing gaming economy. Introduced by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and it seeks to promote esports, educational and social games, while aiming to ban real-money gaming (RMG). After being cleared by both houses and pending the President’s assent, the legislation could redefine an industry that expanded at breakneck speed over the past decade.

Vaishnaw, while introducing the Bill, drew a clear line between opportunity and risk stating that esports and casual games are educational and entertaining. However, he claimed that online money games are opaque, hazardous, and linked to issues such as addiction, financial distress, money laundering, and even terror funding. Hence, the government intends to nurture innovation while safeguarding societal interests.

However, this move raises urgent questions for the advertising and marketing industry. With nearly 86% of gaming revenues tied to real-money formats, the ban could upend business models of gaming companies, and disrupting the advertising ecosystem that they heavily fuel.

At the same time, the Bill opens new avenues in esports and edutainment, sectors that could emerge as safer, more sustainable growth drivers. Campaign finds out from experts how the bill is going to affect the gaming, advertising, and marketing industry.

Shivashish Tarkas, founder, The InterMentalist

Ultimately, any business needs to generate a certain percentage of revenue and if almost half of that goes off in tax, then it becomes pointless. So, there is no diversification that will happen at this point of time.

Online gaming is based on the money aspect and if that itself is not there, then how will the gaming industry make revenue? This step will demotivate and discourage people within this industry.

There will be a hit in the ad and marketing spends as this was the sector that was spending the most. They were dependent on building a consumer base through performance marketing where crores of money are invested. This will now be completely eradicated as the Bill also says that neither you can promote nor endorse these games.

This will not affect ad and marketing spends of other sectors as they are not going to step in here. The industry is going to take a very deep hit and the stakeholders, and the policymakers will realise this in time to come.

Shayesta Shahzabeen, AVP client excellence and strategy, BC Web Wise

The decision of the government to ban RMG is a reality check. This is not just a shift for the industry, it is a turning point for advertising and marketing.

For years, RMG fuelled massive ad spends, but it was built on shaky ground. The Bill forces a pause to rethink growth around categories that are sustainable, responsible, and future-proof.

The bill is not a roadblock; it is a course correction. Short-term disruption is inevitable, but by drawing a clear line, the Bill signals clarity and trust.

Over time, this will unlock a healthier ecosystem for esports, educational, and social gaming. These categories attract advertising differently than RMG once did.

Advertisers must pivot from opportunistic spends to strategic, scalable, and socially responsible growth. Where RMG offered scale, esports, and social gaming offer engagement: passionate, brand-friendly communities. They may not match RMG’s volumes immediately, but they deliver deeper, meaningful partnerships.

Sushant Sadamate, co-founder and chief creative officer, Buzzlab

Esports, educational and social games will scale faster now, but brands will not throw RMG-sized cheques on day one. Esports have the best shot, streamers, leagues, campus circuits, CTV tie-ins, shoppable streams. What it needs is cleaner measurement, brand-safe inventory, and commerce hooks. Educational and social games will attract BFSI, edtech, telco and FMCG for trust-led storytelling, but ARPU starts lower. Expect test-and-learn budgets first, then bigger commitments once case studies stack up.

RMG was approximately 6–8% of digital AdEx and growing fast. A blanket ban creates a short, sharp vacuum, CPMs soften, publishers feel it, creators lose easy briefs.

But other sectors such as e-commerce, non-RMG gaming, fintech, auto (festive), travel, health, and D2C will rush in. Spend also pivots to CRM, WhatsApp, affiliates, and retail media. So, this would mean that there would be a two-quarter wobble, not a winter. Attention gets repriced; the market rebalances to safer, story-led inventory.

Akshat Rathee, cofounder and MD, Nodwin Gaming

The Bill marks a decisive shift for India’s digital gaming ecosystem. By formally distinguishing between esports, online social games, educational games and online money games, the government has taken a much-needed step to bring structure and clarity to a rapidly expanding industry. While this undoubtedly poses an existential challenge for real-money gaming operators, since pivoting to esports or social gaming would require a complete overhaul of their business models and company DNA, it simultaneously opens up unprecedented opportunities for the esports and casual gaming sector.

The most encouraging element of the Bill is the strong recognition of esports as a legitimate competitive sport, aligned with global standards and to be governed under the forthcoming National Sports Governance Act. This clarity will catalyse investor confidence across the value chain, whether in tournament organisers, teams, publishers, or developers, ensuring long-term stability and growth. While investments into online money gaming will naturally recede, the Bill creates fertile ground for a more responsible, diversified ecosystem that balances innovation with consumer protection and public health safeguards.

Sankalp Samant, co-founder, Idiotic Media

The regulatory shift is a clear reminder for marketers to not over-depend on one high-growth category, no matter how exciting it looks in the short term. For the last few years, gaming, especially real money gaming, was growing at such a fast pace that many brands and agencies started prioritising it heavily in their plans. But with policy changes coming in, it is obvious that consumer trends alone do not drive growth anymore; regulations can reshape industries overnight.

As for the vacuum created by restrictions on RMG advertising is significant, but it will not slow down the ad industry. India’s digital ad ecosystem is extremely dynamic, and whenever one category slows down, other sectors step in very quickly.

We have already seen that with categories like fintech, edtech, e-commerce, D2C brands, and even gaming sub-segments like esports. Marketers will redirect budgets towards safer and scalable categories like esports, casual gaming, and OTT platforms. These spaces are already attracting a lot of youth engagement, and brands will naturally look to be present there.

Vatsal Bhardwaj, founder of Jabali.ai and former head of gaming, Meta India

We need to make India global capital of gaming. The new law is a promising step. It’s was important to put clear guardrails around real-money wagering and gambling—addiction is real, and it often creates an illusion of control. This law will unlock funding and attention towards responsible and sustainable gaming.

The key in implementation is to separate gambling from skill-based esports, world-building sandboxes, casual games, and games that teach kids and creators about AI, creativity, systems thinking, logic, teamwork.

Though the transition will be painful for some, the long-term effect can be a 10× expansion in healthy, sustainable game creation. India can become the world’s largest exporter of gaming — we have the biggest talent pool, creative and gaming enthusiastic population and generative AI is leveling the playing field. Jabali.ai is building for that future: focused on creation and skills not just consumption.