Parimatch Monitors India Tightening Rules: Market Pursues New Formats
September 2025 became a defining moment for India’s online gaming industry. At that time, the country adopted the Online Gaming Promotion and Regulation Act, which effectively prohibited real-money online gaming, its promotion, and payment processing. Analysts from the international brand Parimatch note that against the backdrop of rapid market changes and enforcement practices, players and operators are seeking new behavioral trajectories. From Parimatch’s standpoint, having long analyzed Asian markets, this situation has become a demonstrative example of how excessive regulation can lead to industry underground development.
A ban in one jurisdiction immediately reshapes user behavior and promotional strategies, shifting them to new digital platforms and external markets. For international brands like Parimatch, which had only been studying Indian market potential, this became a signal to reconsider global expansion strategy.
What Specifically Was Banned and Why
The law adopted by parliament and approved by the president criminalizes online money gaming as well as its promotion. Banks and payment services are prohibited from conducting relevant transactions; violations carry fines and up to five years of imprisonment. As government officials stressed, the decision was motivated by growing household financial losses and social harm: according to official estimates, approximately 450 million Indians (roughly one-third of the population) lose around $2.3 billion annually on online gambling. The law also declares support for developing non-gambling segments such as esports and social gaming.
According to Parimatch’s evaluation, precisely this approach—without a transition period or industry dialogue—creates the risk of a “gray” economy emerging, since demand for gaming services remains colossal.
Where Players Are Migrating
The regulatory shock has not halted demand: widespread evidence shows partial traffic outflow to unregulated offshore sites, accessed through VPNs and proxy mechanisms. Players themselves acknowledge they will “return to old methods,” and circumvention practices will only become more entrenched. Such drift increases behavioral and financial risks: offshore platforms operate outside India’s jurisdiction and consumer protection frameworks.
Parimatch emphasizes that losing control over traffic leads not only to declining tax revenues but also to the growth of fraudulent schemes, which damages the market’s overall reputation.
Parimatch and other international brands have become a kind of benchmark for Indian users, despite the fact that the company has never conducted operations in India due to legislative restrictions. The convenience and interfaces they grew accustomed to before the ban are now being accessed through foreign platforms.
Cricket and Fantasy Sports Ecosystem
The biggest blow fell on the fantasy segment, closely linked to cricket. Dream11, India’s largest fantasy platform with approximately 260 million users, announced the cessation of cash contests, transition to non-cash prizes, and withdrawal from its sponsorship contract with BCCI worth nearly $43 million, warning of revenue drops up to 95%. Previously, fantasy platforms’ share of IPL broadcast advertising revenue was estimated at up to 40%, and is now rapidly declining.
These shifts impact the entire chain of league and club financing. At the corporate level, international groups are also winding down “cash” products: Flutter withdrew Junglee, citing the absence of a transition period and consultations. The dynamics clearly demonstrate how rapid bans break complex “game-sport-media-advertising” connections.
Parimatch experts stress that in the fantasy sports sphere, it is precisely coordinated regulation that allows maintaining balance between business and public interests—an example India could follow in the future.
Law and Regulatory Policy
Legal disputes began immediately after the law took effect. Company A23 filed a constitutional appeal, asserting that the ban is disproportionate to its purpose and harms law-abiding companies. Analytical centers in Delhi note: under the guise of consumer protection, the state effectively closed regulated Indian platforms, opening the door to “gray” offshore sites.
India’s Supreme Court is already reviewing a public petition proposing to develop a unified approach to blocking illegal sites and strengthen control of financial operations through national banking and payment systems. The petition’s authors emphasize the scale of the problem: hundreds of millions of users and over fifteen hundred already-blocked gaming applications.
Parimatch notes in its analytical reports that the key to market stability is precisely legal certainty and the presence of dialogue between regulators and business, not total prohibitions.
How Companies at Parimatch’s Level Are Adapting
Although Parimatch has never operated in India, the company is often regarded as a benchmark for a global approach to responsible gaming and marketing innovations.
According to industry association estimates, the real-money online gaming market was valued at approximately $3.7 billion and provided over 200,000 jobs directly, and up to 300,000 including related services. After the ban, companies have massively frozen cash products, thousands of specialists have been left without work, and the advertising and creative industries have lost major clients. Budget losses from unreceived taxes are estimated at approximately $2.5 billion annually. Meanwhile, some entrepreneurs have already announced plans to relocate their projects abroad, creating risks of capital and professional talent outflow.
Some Indian gaming platforms are attempting to quickly restructure, transitioning to free-to-play format and creating content services like Sportz Drip or FanCode, where users compete not for money but for points and prizes. However, such projects require significantly fewer resources and personnel compared to real-money games.
Simultaneously, international companies, including brands at Parimatch’s level, in similar crisis situations rethink marketing and audience retention methods. They transfer users to legal products, adapt content and formats to different markets. Parimatch considers this approach a universal survival model for the industry, regardless of country.
New Demand Dynamics
Against the backdrop of India’s ban, interest is growing in “light” betting channels: through messengers and SMS. These formats are perceived as a convenient alternative to traditional apps and content stores. InPlaySoft research notes that such channels benefit from simplicity, accessibility in regions with poor internet connectivity, automation through bots, and even integration with cryptocurrency payments. At the same time, the importance of user identification procedures (KYC) and anti-money laundering measures (AML) is increasing.
This is especially relevant for India: the stricter the restrictions on real-money gaming, the more actively players transition to light and often unregulated formats. As a result, the state faces a dual challenge: strengthen control and blocking, but at the same time not push users into the shadow segment.
As Parimatch analysts note, the displacement effect is a typical market reaction when strict legislation creates conditions for the development of uncontrolled niches. The solution may not be a ban, but rather creating clear frameworks for legal activity.
India’s ban has demonstrated how quickly policy can reshape digital markets: consumer demand “does not disappear” but is redistributed among offshore platforms, “free” local products, and new channels where regulation is weaker.
Parimatch experts emphasize that the outcome of the confrontation between complete prohibition and flexible regulation will depend on how effectively the state can offer players legal alternatives without harming the sports industry. At the global level, Parimatch remains a demonstrative example of how an international brand can combine responsibility, innovation, and strategic analysis without violating local laws.
