Google suggests opening a play store for more real money games in India

Google has proposed a sweep change to its Play Store and Advertising Policy in India, and aims to allow the platform to have more real money gaming apps in order to resolve the ongoing antitrust cases on its local online gaming platform Winzo.

On Wednesday, the Indian Competition Watchdog was issued Announcement (PDF) Invite comments on Google’s “commitment proposal” and offer to expand access to more real money game app play store and advertising policies in the South Asian market.

Google has proposed to replace the current pilot program by allowing Google Play to distribute all real money games in the country, “declaring the developers themselves as permitted online real money games.”

However, developers must also prove that the authoritative third-party institution has declared the app to be a “game of skills.”

September 2022, Google Pilot program started Allow daily fantasy sports and rummie games at the Indian play store. The move came after a 2021 ruling by the Supreme Court of India, which categorized fantasy sports as a “game of skills” rather than gambling, and therefore as “legal.”

The online gaming platform Winzo soon after the pilot announced filed a complaint Delhi High Court will discriminately call the program for excluding other real money games. India’s Competition Commission (CCI) took up the incident and in November last year, I ordered an official probe Real Money Gaming app’s policy in Google.

Last January, Google announced that it would expand support for the Real Money Gaming app on its Play Stores in India, Brazil and Mexico. However, the company Pause The deployment will be rolled out in June 2024 and said it will continue to allow apps already included in the 2022 Indian pilot to remain on the platform.

Google offered to expand the play store for all self-declared real money games by developers and suggested updating its developer program policy to reflect the update. The company also said it will complete a “good business model” for real money game developers.

Similarly, Google suggests allowing them to promote “games of skills” in India. In this case, the app maker has proven from third parties that it is a game of skills rather than gambling.

The third party recognized in this case could be an industry association such as the All India Game Federation, the e-gaming Federation, or the Indian Fantasy Sports Federation.

Google has begun allowing compliant real money games at play stores in India within 120 days of CCI approval, saying that changes to related advertising policies will take effect within 150 days of regulatory orders.

“CCI is pleased to have the proposed framework for Real-Money Games (RMGS) in India on the market,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement sent by email to TechCrunch. “This development reflects constructive discussions with CCI and the Indian developer community, along with its commitment to creating a more open and secure ecosystem for RMG apps across Google Play and Google Ads.” ”

In particular, this proposal would benefit Google if accepted by CCI after public feedback. Google will gain revenue share from advertising on a wider range of real money gaming apps and their platforms.

Real-Money Gaming dominates the Indian online gaming market, accounting for nearly 86% of the total industry revenue. 27.438 billion ($3 billion) in 2024 – Joint report It was released earlier this year by Winzo and the Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council (IEC). However, its share is expected to decline slightly by 2029 as non-real money games become more popular and the overall market will expand to 7855.1 billion pounds ($8.9 billion).

Google’s latest suggestions can also boost developers who are currently distributing their apps outside the Play Store. However, the CCI investigation is still underway, and regulators have not yet determined whether Google is engaged in discriminatory practices in this area.

This probe will be added to Google’s growing antitrust challenges list in India. Already fined for It is said that he abused that rule. Through the Android and Play Store. Recent company I approached the Supreme Court He sued one of these verdicts and challenged the CCI findings. The case is scheduled to be listed for next month’s hearing.

“We look forward to continuing to work with CCI and the wider RMG ecosystem and are confident that the proposed framework will empower Indian developers, grow the digital economy and prioritize user safety,” a Google spokesperson said.