{"id":777031040,"date":"2025-09-01T12:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T15:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777031040"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:36:17","slug":"mpl-slashes-workforce-amid-india-gaming-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/mpl-slashes-workforce-amid-india-gaming-ban","title":{"rendered":"MPL slashes workforce amid India gaming ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Mobile Premier League will lay off around 300 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>India.- The Bengaluru-based Mobile Premier League (MPL) has confirmed that it will lay off approximately 60 per cent of its local workforce \u2013 around 300 of 500 employees, after India passed the <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-passes-bill-to-ban-real-money-online-games\">Online Gaming Act<\/a> on August 22, prohibiting all gaming in which users pay entry fees, deposits or stakes for monetary gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an internal email to staff, MPL co-founder and CEO Sai Srinivas wrote: \u201cWith a heavy heart, we have decided that we will be downsizing our India team significantly.\u201d He said India had contributed half of MPL\u2019s revenues, and that the new law means the company &#8220;would no longer be making any revenue from India in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The layoffs will affect staff across departments, including marketing, finance, operations, engineering, and legal. MPL said it is committed to supporting those impacted during the transition period, but did not provide details of severance or assistance packages. Backed by Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia Capital India, MPL was valued at US$2.3bn in 2021 and generated around US$100m in India last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ban, justified by the government on grounds of addiction and financial harm, affects a <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/major-brands-halt-operations-amid-indias-ban-on-real-money-online-gambling\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/major-brands-halt-operations-amid-indias-ban-on-real-money-online-gambling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sector that was projected to reach $3.6bn by 2029<\/a>. Platforms such as Dream11, PokerBaazi, Zupee and WinZO have shut down their real-money offerings. Flutter\u2019s Junglee has also ceased operations in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Industry trade bodies, including the All India Gaming Federation, the eGaming Federation, and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports, warned in a joint statement that the move could serve as a \u201cdeath knell\u201d for India\u2019s online gaming industry, and <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indias-online-gaming-ban-faces-legal-challenge\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indias-online-gaming-ban-faces-legal-challenge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A23 has filed a legal challenge<\/a> before the High Court of Karnataka, arguing that the ban \u201ccriminalises the legitimate business of playing online games of skill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics fear the ban could push activity into unregulated channels. Gaming law firm Segev LLC noted that, while the legislation is presented as progressive, it \u201cmoves against the current global tide\u201d of licensing and regulation that typically includes consumer safeguards and responsible gaming initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/03\/United-Arab-Emirates-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/light-wonder-receives-gaming-related-vendor-licence-in-the-uae'>Light &amp; Wonder receives gaming vendor licence in the UAE<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mobile Premier League will lay off around 300 employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777031047,"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 Mobile Premier League (MPL) is implementing significant workforce reductions in India, laying off 300 employees, following the enactment of India's Online Gaming Act. This new legislation prohibits real-money gaming with entry fees, directly impacting MPL's revenue streams and forcing other major operators to cease real-money offerings in the market. Industry bodies and legal experts express concerns regarding the ban's potential to stifle a projected multi-billion-dollar sector and drive activity into unregulated channels.","focusai_entities":"Mobile Premier League, MPL, Sai Srinivas, Peak XV Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Dream11, PokerBaazi, Zupee, WinZO, Flutter, Junglee, All India Gaming Federation, eGaming Federation, Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports, A23, Segev LLC","focusai_location":"India, Bengaluru, Karnataka","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.8), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact Analysis","query":"What specific provisions of the Indian Online Gaming Act led to the prohibition of real-money gaming with entry fees, and how does this legislation diverge from established global regulatory frameworks for iGaming?"},{"label":"Market Re-evaluation Strategy","query":"How are other major iGaming operators and B2B suppliers with significant exposure to the Indian market adjusting their strategic roadmaps and investment allocations in light of this regulatory shift?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16334],"tags":[24857,58,4138,21723],"class_list":["post-777031040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-ban","tag-india","tag-online-gambling","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031040","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777031040"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777031096,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031040\/revisions\/777031096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777031047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777031040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777031040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777031040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}