Google To Allow More Real Money Games On India Play Store

Google will support more real-money gaming operators in India by allowing more game types on its Play Store, it said on Friday.

"Based on the learnings from the pilots and positive feedback from users and developers, Google Play will begin supporting more real-money gaming apps this year, including game types and operators not covered by an existing licencing framework. We’ll launch this expanded RMG support in June to developers for their users in India," wrote Karan Gambhir, director, global trust and safety partnerships, Google.

In September 2022, Google Play started a year-long pilot programme of daily fantasy sports and rummy apps for users in India, which marked a shift in the tech giant's stance towards fantasy gaming apps in India.

The sector has seen three unicorns in the country—Dream11, Games24x7, which operates RummyCircle, and My11Circle; and Mobile Premier League. All these apps are popular in India and claim 8.5–13 crore users on each of their platforms.

"It also enables developers currently participating in RMG pilots in India and Mexico to continue offering their apps on Play," Gambhir said.

With this announcement, the grace period for pilot apps to remain on Google Play has been extended until June 30, when the new policy will take effect. "After that time, developers can distribute RMG apps on Google Play to users in India, beyond DFS and Rummy, in compliance with local laws and our updated policy," it said.

Google will also be evolving its service fee model for real-money games, it said. "We are working closely with developers to ensure our new approach reflects the unique economics and various developer earning models of this industry. We will have more to share in the coming months about our new policy and future expansion plans."

Roland Landers, chief executive officer at All India Gaming Federation, welcomed Google's decision. "We have been advocating the same for and believe that this will give a big boost to the Indian online gaming industry, where over 70% of the revenue is generated by pay-to-play platforms."

"It will especially help MSMEs and new developers/platforms who will be able to compete with established companies, and will substantially bring down the user acquisition and other associated costs," Landers said.

NDTV Profit had reported earlier that though Google's change in stance was welcome, the exclusion of real-money skill games, except Rummy and fantasy games, was found to be "discriminatory" by industry stakeholders. That concern can now be alleviated.

"It is unreasonable for Google to only allow Rummy and fantasy games, while foreclosing the door for all other skill-based games, that cumulatively form a bigger user base of over 500 million monthly users in India," Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder at social gaming platform WinZO, had said earlier.