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<\/p>\nLast Updated:September 02, 2025, 16:17 IST<\/p>\n
India\u2019s ban on real-money gaming may curb addiction, but is it all positive? Businesses and psychiatrists reveal the hidden gamble of jobs and the lives of the already addicted.<\/p>\n
Attack on addiction or another gamble? India’s real-money gaming ban has many unanswered questions.\n<\/p>\n
\u2018Many thanks for your reach out, cricket can\u2019t die.\u2019<\/p>\n
This is how Daniel Weston, the founder of the European Cricket Network (ECN), ended his email when contacted by News18-CricketNext for a comment on the recent blanket ban on real-money gaming in India.<\/p>\n
India has a significant gambling problem. Every year, hundreds, if not thousands, of families are ruined because of it.<\/p>\n
The advent of real-money fantasy gaming companies, which are as accessible and easy-to-use as WhatsApp, has made it much worse. If done correctly, it\u2019s just a high-stakes game, but it has reached the poorest of society, who can\u2019t afford to lose their little to no savings over an unpredictable sports match.<\/p>\n
Whatever negative impacts the ban might have, the positives will perhaps always \u2014 more so in the long term \u2014 outweigh that. However, that doesn\u2019t mean the other side of the scale is weightless.<\/p>\n
The real-money gaming market was valued at $3.2 billion (about Rs. 28,000 crore) in the Financial Year 2024. By some estimates, it\u2019s 1,600 times the market for e-sports.<\/p>\n
Because of its financial appeal, it has, wittingly or not, built a huge economy around it. The dependency is so high that ECN, which has always been heavily sponsored by real-money gaming companies, halted its premier competition, the European Cricket League (ECL), in the middle of the season, only two days after the ban was announced thousands of kilometres away.<\/p>\n
The ECL is a humongous league, comprising over 30 teams every year. It\u2019s mostly played by sub-continent expats in Europe, but has slowly started to involve a big share of the local population.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s in the T10 format, and the logistics and competitive quality are nothing compared to those of any private franchise competition. However, it\u2019s still entertainment for its 471,000 YouTube subscriber base and the bigger audience that watches it on FanCode.<\/p>\n
More importantly, the jobs of the hundreds involved (most players are semi-professionals and work on day jobs side-by-side, but commentators, broadcasters, and the like) are now at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ban on fantasy cricket is devastating for the future of the game at every level worldwide,” Weston says, as he begins his search for a new sponsor to fund the competition. \u201cFantasy sports have provided unmatched financial support to help grow cricket, especially in associate nations, creating opportunities for both men and women. More importantly, fantasy cricket has been the single most powerful tool to engage fans and promote the sport globally.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a very sad moment for cricketers, cricket fans, and the children of cricketers all over the world, who will now likely not grow up in a world that is developing cricket outside of the big three. Without fantasy cricket, the game risks being pushed back 20 years\u2014and it may never regain that momentum,” he adds.<\/p>\n
Apart from these, leagues in the West Indies, Nepal, and West Asia have deep connections with real-money fantasy gaming and betting companies.<\/p>\n
Cricket has a baby-like growth outside the handful of traditional centres. That means in most cases, these real-money gaming companies offer the best sponsorship deals with the most stable income for the organisers.<\/p>\n
Do they care that much about cricket outside the big three? Maybe.<\/p>\n
But, it\u2019s also because this brings more than just visibility: access to a highly engaged audience without competition and, more importantly for these corporations, they get to build faux legitimacy to cement themselves in the sporting ecosystem.<\/p>\n
The morality of it can be questioned. Should the ECN, for example, have taken less or unstable money from non-real-money gaming companies and kept its conscience clear?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to expect them to do that when the same companies are also sponsoring the International Cricket Council (ICC) \u2014 in 2023, the world body voted to allow betting companies to sponsor national teams and matches \u2014 the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and other massive T20 franchise competitions around the world.<\/p>\n
The BCCI has other sponsors lined up, but the ECN and the like don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur vision was to make cricket the number one bat-and-ball team sport in Europe,” Weston says. \u201cNow, those hopes feel shattered. I dearly hope parents across the emerging cricket world still grab a bat and ball and enjoy the game in their gardens, because that may soon be the only place it survives \u2014 but I fear the future pathways beyond could vanish.”<\/p>\n
Demand Shock<\/p>\n
In India, one of the sections of the support economy that developed due to this boom of fantasy gaming was analytics. This includes firms offering subscriptions to share advice and insights about matches, data vendors, content creators, and streamers.<\/p>\n
Covers Off is one of such firms that takes subscriptions for fantasy cricket content and offers data-led insights and predictions about what might happen in the match. Instead of telling which 11 will win Rs. 1 crore for a user, they try to offer systematic gains through smaller competitions within these real-money gaming apps.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t keep gamblers and their addictions in check, but it is as close as it gets to keeping it \u2018skill-based\u2019.<\/p>\n
Alagappan Vijayakumar, the founder of Covers Off, says his initial reaction was one of surprise, for they weren\u2019t expecting an outright ban, even though they are better prepared than most because they have been using AI to reduce their costs.<\/p>\n
He reported his clients are more taken aback.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mood is the same: shock and disappointment,” Vijayakumar says. \u201cMost weren\u2019t chasing 1\u2011crore jackpots. They focused on small\u2011field, low\u2011fee contests \u2014 H2H, 3\u201320 entries \u2014 where skill, discipline, and bankroll rules matter. Some saw regular, modest net\u2011positive months. The ban removes that outlet overnight. Study groups, lineup routines, and communities built around data and matchups will go quiet. Creators and analysts report instant pauses on subscriptions and contracts. Their question isn\u2019t \u2018How do we bypass this?\u2019 It\u2019s \u2018Is there a legal way to keep playing?\u2019 Today, there isn\u2019t.”<\/p>\n
Vijayakumar believes around 20% of the fantasy community played for fun, but others did it for money. He believes that most of the Indian community will not migrate to unregulated and mostly illegal platforms to satisfy their needs because of the inconvenience in usage (for example, no UPI), which is likely to bring a demand shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemand for advice, lineups, and matchup content will drop to near zero,” he says. \u201cChannels will go quiet, contracts pause, and cash flow will stop. Some can pivot \u2014 analysts to teams and broadcasters, educators to coaching and scouting programs, content folks to general sports media, and a few to overseas markets where fantasy remains legal. But inside India, the scope will contract sharply; many will wind down unless they find a new lane quickly.”<\/p>\n
He\u2019s prepared to pivot Covers Off into a more B2B brand offering their services to teams, broadcasters, academies, data partners, and content studios. But, from his vantage point, there were better solutions than a blanket ban.<\/p>\n
He suggests default \u2018spending caps\u2019, with higher limits only after income or credit checks, automatic time-outs, and exclusion systems when players cross loss thresholds.<\/p>\n
He also believes that encouraging contests without the heavy payouts but more skill-based alternatives, risk labels on advertising with no glamorising of huge wins, and more transparency from real money gaming companies with rake ceilings and independent audit reports would have helped better.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep fantasy as regulated skill gaming, and add a few hard guardrails on top of what leading platforms already do,” Vijaykumar says. \u201cThe goal is to target harm without erasing the legitimate, skill\u2011based economy. These steps preserve a legal, safer outlet for users, keep incentives aligned for platforms, and protect the jobs and support economy around fantasy \u2014 without a blanket ban.”<\/p>\n
Blind Spot<\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest impact of this ban would be on those it is purportedly for.<\/p>\n
A 2024 study on Kerala college students (Prakash, Girdhar & Jose, 2024, Pakistan Journal of Criminology) reported one in five admitting to betting on real-money gaming apps, with many spending up to four hours a day over them.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a 2019 study from Goa (Bhatia et al., 2019, Asian Journal of Psychiatry) found around 7% of problem gambling prevalence with strong links to work-related problems, interpersonal violence, tobacco use, alcohol use disorders, and even suicidality.<\/p>\n
While the ban might go a long way in preventing newer additions to it, those who are already addicted to it in the country fall into a blind spot.<\/p>\n
This addiction, like most other societal scourges, has never existed in a vacuum. Not everyone gambles because it\u2019s fun and they have money to risk; some see it as a quick escape from poverty and the societal inequalities that deeply exist in India.<\/p>\n
At its core, it\u2019s a ban on something that thousands are deeply addicted to, which is not too different from making alcohol or tobacco illegal overnight. Shrugging off the responsibility of those affected by it could have an unforeseen, adverse impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel the ban will affect addicts much like suddenly cutting off alcohol or nicotine creates withdrawal,” Dr. Anjali Nagpal, a Delhi-based psychiatrist, says. She cited an example of a teenage patient addicted to mobile gaming who, when forced to stop, became aggressive and isolated and started sneaking out to game parlours.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who were already dependent on gambling are likely to go through the same withdrawal phase. It can trigger anger, frustration, depression, and in some cases, push them to riskier behaviours. The intention of the ban may be to protect, but for addicts, it can make things worse in the short term if there\u2019s no help system in place,” she adds.<\/p>\n
Dr. Nagpal says that cricket has played a huge role in normalising gambling in India, which is made worse because the legal supervision for teenagers and kids was non-existent compared to alcohol or nicotine. But was a ban the right solution?<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my perspective, blanket bans hardly ever solve the problem,” she notes. \u201cThey might make the problem invisible for a while, but they don\u2019t make it go away. A ban without therapy is like surgery without recovery care, half-done and ineffective. Gambling addiction is a psychological disorder, not just a legal issue. Without proper rehabilitation, people either relapse or shift to underground networks.”<\/p>\n
Dr. Nagpal believes that even the analytics companies working on getting smaller games from gambling apps are only a \u2018softer version of the same thing\u2019 because the brain\u2019s dopamine cycle doesn\u2019t differentiate between \u20b9500 and \u20b950,000 earned. She feels it doesn\u2019t change the \u2018addictive loop\u2019 or safeguard from compulsive behaviour.<\/p>\n
However, her prospective solutions aren\u2019t too different.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of bans, I believe regulation is the smarter option. Strict rules like age verification, spending caps, time limits, and restrictions on celebrity endorsements can reduce harm without driving the industry underground. Add to that awareness campaigns in schools and accessible therapy centres, and we\u2019ll see much better results,” she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia needs structured solutions: accessible de-addiction centres, CBT-based counselling, digital detox programs and strong community support groups. Financial literacy workshops can also help people rebuild control over money. In the end, it\u2019s not the ban but the ecosystem of recovery that decides whether addicts truly heal or remain trapped in cycles of dependency,” Dr. Nagpal adds.<\/p>\n
Until any of that materialises, it\u2019s on cricket to find a way to find a way out of the moral mess. And in India, it\u2019s again on the families, who were already suffering due to the slow grasp of gambling addiction, to now deal with the shock withdrawal. Most were unassisted then; most will be unassisted now.<\/p>\n
News<\/a> cricket<\/a> Gambling With Lives: The Human Cost Of India’s Real-Money Gaming BanDisclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Updated:September 02, 2025, 16:17 IST India\u2019s ban on real-money gaming may curb addiction, but is it all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,64955,64952,64951,64949,64950,84,64953,393,394,64948,64954],"class_list":["post-115922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cricket-sponsorship-india","tag-dream11-sponsorship","tag-european-cricket-network","tag-fantasy-cricket-ban","tag-gambling-addiction-india","tag-health","tag-impact-on-cricket-jobs","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-real-money-gaming-ban-india","tag-regulation-vs-ban-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}