- By Shreyansh Mangla
- Mon, 25 Aug 2025 04:34 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Online Gaming Act: Winzo, a homegrown gaming platform known for allowing users to compete in games for cash prizes, has decided to enter the US market after India imposed a ban on real-money games. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, strictly bans all online games where users could earn money.
Winzo had to suspend its real-money gaming operations as the government's Online Gaming Bill received the assent of President Droupadi Murmu on August 22, after it was passed by both houses of Parliament. The Act bans all online games that involve spending money to win prizes, whether they are skill based or chance.
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As soon as this law was enacted, many fantasy sports platforms, such as Dream 11, KheloFantasy and Winzo, were immediately banned. These fantasy sports included gambling games like rummy and poker.
Winzo, which no longer serves as a 'real money gaming' platform in India, has now decided that it will focus on expanding to other countries like the US. Zo-TV, which the Gurugram-based company has launched as its new short-form video content platform in the US, has become a unique platform to be present in three of the four biggest gaming markets in the world.
According to a report by INC42, the company had stated that it was entering the US market solely because it was the largest gaming market in the world. The reason, as touted by most news portals, pointed towards one single reason for this shift: The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025.
In a short note on Winzo's website, the company stated that to abide by the new law, the company has decided to shut down all the affected games, and would make sure that all the users who invested in it would get a refund. “In compliance with the new law, we are responsibly withdrawing impacted offerings effective August 22, 2025; all service providers’ dues will be honoured; and all user balances will be safely refunded without any loss to a single user,” Winzo said.
The company in a press release stated on Monday that though they were expanding to other countries, they would continue to offer other services to Indian users, which were not affected by the Online Gaming Act.
Winzo is not the only platform overhauling its operations completely. Platforms like Dream11 are also informing its users and employees that it would remove all the games that involved real-money operations. The company is reportedly launching a new gold loan app, under the new service called "Dream Money".
To comply with the new law, other companies, such as Probo, Mobile Premier League (MPL) and Zupee, are offering online games which are completely free to play.