Real-money gaming staff now stare at unemployment

Ban threatens jobs of over 200,000 persons employed with 400 online gaming companies

- Shouvik Das & Devina Sengupta

On Wednesday, at 5am, a senior executive who tests games for MPL was woken up with a call from his parents. He never gets a call that early and thought it was some kind of emergency. "Do you have your job?" they asked. He was flabbergasted at the line of questions, and while they hounded him with questions, he saw missed calls from his brother as well. He had no idea until he saw the messages from his friends, colleagues and even former colleagues asking him what would happen next.

The MPL employee is among 200,000 employed with 400 online gaming companies whose future is at stake as the government aims to bring down the shutters on fantasy sports, online rummy, poker, and other real-money games.

On Wednesday evening, The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, was cleared in the Lok Sabha. Online gaming firms, with this move, find themselves one step closer to facing a blanket ban of their services in India—subject to it being cleared in the Upper House as well.

Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that while there will be job losses from online gaming firms, the government's Bill also facilitates promotion of esports and casual gaming ventures—which will help migrate many of the jobs lost.