The Rs 10,000 Crore Advertising Exodus

India's policymakers rewrite the gaming future with the Online Gaming Bill 2025, pulling the plug on fantasy apps, ad revenues and cricket sponsorships

- By REEMA BHADURI

NINETYSIX HOURS. That’s all it took for India’s Parliament to table, debate and pass the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, legislation so sweeping that it has sent tremors through the country’s Rs 70,000 crore advertising industry and forced gaming giants with 250 million collective users to shut down operations overnight!

From the Cabinet nod on 19 August to the Rajya Sabha clearance on 21 August, the government delivered one of the most far-reaching policy moves in recent times. While the Bill seeks to regulate a sector long mired in controversy, its implications threaten to disrupt one of the fastest-growing contributors to digital advertising revenues.

Within hours of the Bill’s passage, the dominoes began falling. Dream11, MPL, Gameskraft, Games24x7, A23, Zupee, PokerBaazi and WinZO — platforms that collectively boasted hundreds of millions of users and attracted Rs 25,000 crore in foreign direct investment — announced immediate shutdowns of their real money services.

Ad Industry Fallout

Gaming platforms currently contribute an estimated Rs 4,500 crore to India’s Rs 70,000-crore advertising industry. With the gaming market projected to surge from Rs 16,428 crore in FY23 to nearly Rs 65,000 crore by 2027, the abrupt policy shift risks stalling this momentum entirely.

“The gaming Bill could severely disrupt India’s advertising ecosystem. A blanket ban could wipe out nearly Rs 10,000 crore in annual ad spends, with digital and sports marketing bearing the brunt. OTT platforms alone risk losses of around Rs 2,000 crore annually,” warns Chandan Sharma, General Manager- Digital Media, Adani Group.