Google will no longer allow rummy and daily fantasy sports ads targeting India, marking a major crackdown on real-money gaming promotions. The move follows the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA) 2025, signalling stricter oversight of gaming advertising and reshaping marketing strategies across India’s digital and sports ecosystems.
Google’s latest advertising policy update has sent a shockwave through India’s booming online gaming ecosystem, as the company moves to disallow all rummy and daily fantasy sports advertisements targeting the country. The significant shift, coming in the immediate aftermath of the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA) 2025, signals what industry insiders describe as the strongest regulatory push yet against aggressive real-money gaming promotion in India.
The policy revision effectively shuts the door on some of the largest spenders in India’s digital ad economy. Over the past five years, fantasy platforms and rummy operators have emerged as among the most visible advertisers during cricket tournaments, major festivals, and high-traffic sporting seasons. That visibility, sometimes bordering on saturation, had become a subject of political, parental, and public scrutiny—particularly as participation in real-money gaming expanded towards younger demographics through slick influencer campaigns and sports celebrity endorsements.
Google’s move aligns tightly with the spirit of PROGA 2025, which was passed earlier this year after months of deliberation between the central government, state administrations and industry stakeholders. The Act introduces licensing norms, advertiser disclosure requirements and age-gate mechanisms, backed by penalties for violations. But perhaps more symbolically, it recognises the growing public concern around addiction, financial harm and aggressive marketing practices within the real-money gaming sector. Google’s new rules suggest the tech giant is not waiting for regulators to enforce compliance; rather, it is pre-emptively cutting off the main artery through which gaming brands reached millions of Indian users.
Industry analysts argue that the timing is as important as the policy itself. India is entering a packed cricket calendar headed into 2026, typically a peak revenue period for fantasy platforms. The absence of Google’s ad inventory — spanning YouTube, Google Search and Google Display — will shrink user acquisition funnels and force operators to reassess both marketing spend and return on investment models. “This is equivalent to shutting down the country’s biggest billboard overnight,” remarked a marketing strategist at a leading digital agency who requested anonymity due to client sensitivities.
For now, Google has not extended the ban to casual gaming or esports promotions that do not involve monetary stakes. But the policy explicitly singles out rummy and fantasy sports—two genres that have generated repeated legal and ethical battles. While several high courts have ruled fantasy sports to be games of skill, others have questioned their proximity to gambling. Rummy, particularly in its cash-based online form, has been the subject of state-level prohibitions for over a decade. PROGA seeks to harmonise this fragmented regulatory landscape, but enforcement dynamics remain complex.
The ripple effects of Google’s decision are expected to reach beyond the gaming sector. Media companies that depend on advertising revenues face potential shortfalls. In the past, IPL seasons and international cricket tours triggered multi-crore ad buys across broadcast, OTT and digital platforms, with fantasy operators competing fiercely for share of voice. Digital creators and sports influencers also benefited from brand partnerships that pushed gaming apps to new users in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. “This will definitely dent creator monetisation pipelines,” said a talent manager who handles several mid-tier YouTube channels. “Some creators earned more from gaming promotions in a month than they did from ads in an entire quarter.”
Consumer rights organisations, however, have praised the move as overdue. Reports of families falling into debt due to online gaming losses and students engaging in risky behaviour to fund gameplay have become more frequent in recent years. Several advocacy groups had urged stricter ad regulations, arguing that self-regulation had proven ineffective amidst rapid industry growth and celebrity-driven credibility campaigns. For them, Google’s compliance with PROGA reflects a rare moment of alignment between big tech and public interest regulation.
What remains unclear is how the industry will adapt. Some gaming firms have begun lobbying for whitelisting mechanisms that distinguish “responsible” platforms from predatory ones. Others may pivot to offline activations, influencer-only campaigns, or non-Google digital ecosystems such as television streaming apps, social media feeds and sports sponsorships. A third cohort may explore skill-gaming categories outside rummy and fantasy sports to retain regulatory permissions while diversifying revenue streams.
But for now, the ban underscores a decisive shift in India’s digital policy environment: the era of unchecked real-money gaming promotion appears to be closing. And as regulators, platforms and advertisers recalibrate, the outcome may reshape not just the gaming economy but the future of sports marketing and digital monetisation in one of the world’s fastest-growing online markets.
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