{"id":28329,"date":"2022-03-23T09:40:49","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T12:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=28329"},"modified":"2026-04-23T10:17:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:17:03","slug":"indias-online-gaming-spend-increased-by-26-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indias-online-gaming-spend-increased-by-26-in-2021","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s online gaming spend increased by 26% in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>According to a report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce &amp; Industry and Ernst &amp; Young, revenue from online gaming increased by 28 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>India.- A report from the Confederation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Ernst &amp; Young (EY) has found that the number of players paying for online gaming in India has grown <strong>17 per cent<\/strong> from 80 million in 2020 to 95 million in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The total number of online gaming players increased by 8 per cent from 360 million to 390 million. By 2023, the number is expected to exceed <strong>450 million<\/strong>.\u00a0According to the report,\u00a0the annual revenue of the online gaming segment in India grew by 28 per cent, from Rs79bn in 2020 to Rs101bn in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transaction-based game sales rose 26 per cent<\/strong>, driven by an interest in real-money games such as rummy and fantasy sports. Casual and e-sports revenue grew 32 per cent\u00a0due to expanded in-app purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ashish Pherwani<\/strong>, entertainment head, EY India\u00a0said the growth in online gaming spending was attributable to regular users spending more time and an increase in the number of new players in India. He also drew attention to factors that have led some states to lift restrictions on gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some states, including Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, lifted restrictions on transaction-based gaming in 2021 after some gambling groups went to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In February, the\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/karnataka-high-court-overturns-ban-on-skill-based-gambling\" target=\"_blank\">Karnataka state government<\/a>\u2018s attempt to ban all forms of gambling in the state was overturned by the\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/karnataka-high-court-hearing-on-gambling-ban-set-for-tomorrow\" target=\"_blank\">Karnataka High Court<\/a>. Last September, the\u00a0<strong>Kerala High Court<\/strong>\u00a0rejected the state government\u2019s attempt to ban online rummy, arguing that it was a skill-based game and therefore protected by the Indian Constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-aigf-calls-for-robust-policy-framework-for-online-gaming\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">India: AIGF calls for robust policy framework for online gaming<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to a report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce &amp; Industry and Ernst &amp; Young, revenue from online gaming increased by 28 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Indian online gaming sector experienced significant growth in 2021, with revenues increasing by 28% to Rs101bn and paying players rising 17% to 95 million. This expansion was fueled by real-money games and in-app purchases, alongside crucial judicial decisions in states like Karnataka and Kerala that overturned bans on skill-based gaming, thereby clarifying regulatory ambiguity. The market is projected to exceed 450 million players by 2023.","focusai_entities":"Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, FICCI, Ernst & Young, EY, Ashish Pherwani, Supreme Court, Karnataka High Court, Kerala High Court, AIGF","focusai_location":"India, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.75), product_ux (0.7), marketing_crm (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Policy Framework Impact","query":"How might the AIGF's call for a robust policy framework for online gaming in India be influenced by these recent judicial decisions affirming skill-based games?"},{"label":"Investment Outlook","query":"Given the 28% revenue growth and judicial clarity, what are the projected capital expenditure and M&A trends for iGaming operators and suppliers targeting the Indian market over the next 12-24 months?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,158,16334],"tags":[229,233],"class_list":["post-28329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28329"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28348,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28329\/revisions\/28348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}