Real-money gaming apps were apps in which players paid to enter contests in fantasy cricket, rummy, poker and other games, and won money if they did well, while the platform kept a fee. They were often called RMG apps. In 2025, the Online Gaming Act banned these games for money across India, and the apps have since moved to free games.
For decades, Indian courts treated games of skill differently from gambling. Gambling depends mainly on chance, and most states banned it. A game that depends mainly on a player's skill could be played for money. On that basis, fantasy cricket, rummy and poker apps grew into one of India's largest consumer internet industries, with crores of users.
Here is how a fantasy cricket contest worked before the ban. Before an IPL match, a fan in Patna picked a team of 11 real cricketers from both sides, within a budget of points. He paid ₹49 to join a contest with 10,000 places. The entry fees added up to ₹4,90,000. The platform kept about 15%, around ₹73,500, as its fee, which the industry called the rake. The remaining ₹4,16,500 was paid out as prizes. During the match, live sports data gave each cricketer points for runs, wickets and catches. The app updated every team's score after each ball. After the match, the teams with the most points were paid. The platform earned the same fee whichever team won.
Running these contests needed a great deal of technology. Crores of teams were created in the last minutes before the toss, an example of high concurrency. The app had to confirm each player's identity through identity verification (IDV) before it paid any winnings. It took entry fees by UPI and cards, through a payment gateway.
Then, in August 2025, Parliament passed the Online Gaming Act 2025. The Act bans online games played for money, whether they depend on skill or on chance. It bans offering and advertising them. It also bars banks and payment companies from processing payments for them. The same Act supports esports, and social games played without money.
So the platforms have changed. Some now run free contests and earn from advertising. Some have turned to esports, or to live social games watched on a game streaming platform. Others have closed their money games and cut jobs. Fantasy sports grew on the huge audience for live cricket, the same audience that sets the price of sports media rights. That audience remains, but it can no longer pay to play for money.