Why the Indian iGaming Market Is a Hotspot for New Business Ventures

These days, we reach for our phones whenever we want to be entertained. It’s quick, easy, and has everything we want in just a few clicks. Mobile gaming and entertainment seem to be an endless goldmine. So, it’s no shock that it’s caught the attention of new start-ups looking to carve out a piece of the action for themselves.

Have Traditional Games Contributed to Growth

India has a long history of card and board games; rummy Teen Patti and Andar Bahar are probably some of the most well-known. Thanks to the popularity of these games, it didn’t take long for game developers to create online versions. 

Annoyingly, players found themselves locked out of certain games because they don’t meet India’s particular set of laws and regulations. However, it didn’t take long for this problem to be solved. Sites selected by AskGamblers are all vetted to make sure they comply with these regulations — and they have become a sort of one-stop resource for players.

When it comes to sports, we all know the popularity of cricket. But people don’t realise that the sheer volume of support the sport has means it can easily support side industries, like fantasy sports and in-play betting. We’ve all been guilty of thinking we know best and know how to draft ‘the perfect team’; fantasy sports tap into this itch and can be a fun way to scratch it.

In 2025, the Indian gaming sector, especially non-real money gaming and esports, experienced a big influx of investment from both domestic and international investors. Following the government’s ban on real-money gaming (RMG), the market has pivoted towards regulated esports, casual, and social gaming platforms. This legislative change has attracted sponsorship, infrastructure funding, and strategic acquisitions, notably in non-gambling spaces.

Technology and Payments

India isn’t a promising new market for tech; it’s one of the world’s largest and most influential tech ecosystems. India’s technology industry surpassed $250 billion in revenue in 2024 and employs over 5 million professionals across software, IT services, and digital platforms. Tech businesses have access to the latest features, like 5G, which make cloud services faster and more reliable.

India stands out as a global leader in digital payments, with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system enabling users to send and receive money instantly and seamlessly. This broad adoption means making deposits for games and entertainment platforms is easy and efficient for most users. 

However, when it comes to casino and sports betting sites, regulatory restrictions may limit or complicate transactions, even though the underlying technology removes operational barriers. Overall, UPI’s success highlights India as a promising market for both B2B and B2C fintech ventures; however, investors should be aware of the compliance requirements within specific industries.

Regional Growth Patterns

India’s major cities, such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, have densely populated regions, which explains the high demand in these areas. But if you look at the market, the smaller cities and towns are growing at a faster pace, which could be attributed to player behaviour in sub-economic areas. As internet access improves, we could see more users in tier-2 and tier-3 cities joining gaming platforms in the future.  

Population is the obvious starting point. The country is nudging past 1.4 billion people, and roughly half of that is under the age of thirty – so the potential user pool is not just huge, it’s young and curious. Every million people that move from feature phones to low-cost smartphones adds another slice of the market that was unreachable just five years ago. 

These phones arrive bundled with cheap data plans, thanks to the price war among telecom operators, so users who once rationed megabytes are now streaming, scrolling, and gaming for hours. When data costs drop, session lengths rise – which is the driver of the in-app economy.  

The migration pattern inside the country pushes the trend further. Students leave villages for district headquarters, graduates head for emerging tech hubs like Jaipur or Coimbatore, and at each stop, they carry their gaming habits with them. So a developer who optimises for patchy 4G and offers offline modes can tap into a user who spends four hours on a bus every weekend. That’s a specific use case, but the numbers stack up when you multiply it by population movement.  

The interest in different gaming choices varies as well. In southern states, skill games are more popular. In the north, users tend to favour fantasy sports and casino-style games. This leads to offering games in local languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, which cater to the local audience. 

When game developers use local themes, players feel more familiar with them. A cricket game narrated in Bhojpuri or a mythology quest set in Malayalam folklore doesn’t resonate; it sticks because players feel the game was built for them, not translated after the fact.  

Influencers also close the loop. Short-form video creators based in Lucknow or Kochi showcase gameplay clips daily, and their audiences trust them more than big-budget ads. A shout-out from a regional creator can produce a download spike overnight, proving that distribution is now decentralised.  

Put it all together: population, cheap data, seamless payments, regional content, and hyper-local marketing, and it becomes clear why the next wave of growth will not be confined to the glass towers of Mumbai and Bangalore. The real action is already taking place in areas such as Ranchi, Surat, and Madurai, and the numbers suggest it will only accelerate. 

Challenges and Opportunities

The Indian iGaming market throws up plenty of curveballs, and regulatory changes are at the top of the list. A state that allows skill games today might ban them tomorrow and leave operators scrambling to adjust. This unpredictability means companies need to have legal teams that actually understand India’s federal maze and have contingency plans ready. 

The regulatory stance gets more complicated when payment processors join in, as many banks still treat gaming transactions with a raised eyebrow and refuse to process them, or they may flag them as suspicious. Platforms have to integrate multiple payment options and hope that at least one works consistently.

This payment friction is directly connected to how companies position themselves. Since “gambling” is a loaded term in Indian culture, smart operators frame their offerings as entertainment or skill development. 

But even the cleverest marketing can’t overcome the brutal competition that has emerged. With thousands of apps vying for the same users, customer acquisition costs have tripled in two years. New entrants who simply copy existing models get crushed; they need something unique, even if that’s exclusive regional games or tournament formats nobody else offers.

Understanding what makes Indian players tick is the difference between success and failure. Indian online gamblers tend to play and game differently from Western audiences. They play in quick bursts during train commutes, expect apps to work on patchy 4G networks, and will delete anything that crashes even once. 

More importantly, they treat gaming as a social activity. They tend to share victories in WhatsApp groups, challenge cousins to beat their scores and join special tournaments during Diwali that their entire extended family plays. Companies that miss these cultural nuances wonder why their technically superior platforms are empty while simpler, locally focused apps thrive.

Smart operators accelerate growth through partnerships that solve multiple problems at once. When a telecom company bundles gaming subscriptions with data plans, it addresses payment friction and provides marketing reach. When streaming platforms integrate fantasy games into live cricket broadcasts, they capture users at peak excitement moments. These partnerships do more than reduce acquisition costs; they transfer trust from established brands to newer gaming platforms.

Meanwhile, technology is reshaping what’s possible. Cloud gaming eliminates the download friction that loses impatient users, and AI-powered matchmaking stops beginners from getting destroyed by experts and quitting forever. These aren’t just fancy features; they directly address the pain points that make Indian users abandon platforms. 

The future will see consolidation as bigger platforms gobble up smaller ones to get their user base or unique features. As the market heads towards $7 billion by 2028, the winners will be those who balance growth with responsible gaming features before regulations force them to. Regional language support and culturally relevant content are no longer nice-to-haves; they are must-haves in a market where execution complexity is now as big as the opportunity.

Conclusion

India’s iGaming market has a lot going for it. There’s a huge online population, a hunger for new entertainment, and growing investment. 

For new businesses and online ventures, success will demand understanding local Indian tastes and building a brand that players trust for the long term. Those who move early and stay flexible will find great opportunities in what could become one of the world’s biggest digital gaming markets in 2025 and beyond.