Google To Allow More Real-Money Games To List On Play Store In India

Tech giant Google plans to relax its Play Store policies to allow more types of games in the real-money gaming (RMG) category to list on its app marketplace.

“Based on the learnings from the pilots and positive feedback from users and developers, Google Play will begin supporting more RMG apps this year, including game types and operators not covered by an existing licensing framework,” Google said in a blogpost.

It must be noted that Google began onboarding a wider range of RMG apps on Play Store with pre-existing licensing frameworks from 2021. The company also ran a number of pilots in various countries as part of this.

In its latest post, Google said it will launch its expanded RMG support in June to developers for their users in India, Mexico, and Brazil. The tech giant said it would expand this to users in more countries in the future.

This new approach will provide new business opportunities to developers globally while continuing to prioritise user safety, Google said. It will also allow developers currently participating in RMG pilots in India and Mexico to continue offering their apps on Play.

“For developers in the Google Play Pilot Program for distributing DFS (daily fantasy sports) and Rummy apps to users in India, we are extending the grace period for pilot apps to remain on Google Play until June 30, 2024 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,” Google said.

Google began an application-only pilot program, facilitating the distribution of DFS and rummy game apps developed by game developers incorporated in India, in September 2022.

While the apps were to be allowed to list on Play Store following approval from self-regulatory bodies, Google seems to have extended the period for the pilot from January 15, 2023 earlier due to the delay in notifying the framework by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)

The development comes after a challenging 2023 for RMG players in India owing to increased regulatory scrutiny and increase in tax.

While MeitY provided some clarity by introducing online gaming rules in the first half of 2023, the industry faced a setback when the GST council imposed 28% GST on full face value of bets. Moreover, the likes of Dream11, Head Digital Works, and Games 24×7 received show-cause notices from GST authorities over alleged tax evasion.

Against this backdrop, leading gaming-focused VC firm Lumikai revised its revenue projection for the Indian gaming industry for FY28 downward from $8.6 Bn to $7.5 Bn.

Amid the challenges, funding in the gaming space also declined significantly from $576 Mn in 2022 to $209 Mn in 2023 until November, according to Inc42 data.