‘Cambrian explosion’: After real money gaming ban, Kunal Bahl says talent is sparking a startup boom

Even as India’s real-money gaming (RMG) sector reels from a sweeping government ban, venture capitalist Kunal Bahl sees an unexpected silver lining: a surge of new startup activity.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Titan Capital co-founder wrote, “The RMG industry has some of the brightest talent across product, tech, marketing, among other functions. The events of last week have unleashed a cambrian explosion of new startup formation. Many talented folks from the industry who have decided to startup instead of joining another company, reached out to @TitanCapitalVC over the last few days. We are quite amazed by their well-rounded grasp of consumer tech at scale. If you intend to startup, do get in touch with our team or write into startups at titancapital dot vc. We would love to talk to you about partnering with you on your entrepreneurship journey.”

Bahl’s remarks come days after Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which imposes a complete ban on real-money online games such as poker, rummy and fantasy sports. The law, cleared last week, prescribes jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to ₹2 crore for repeat offenders.

The government said the move was necessary to address rising concerns over addiction, financial losses, money laundering and fraud linked to such platforms.

The fallout has been immediate. Industry leaders including Dream11, MPL, WinZO and Games24x7 have either suspended or wound down real-money operations. Payments companies too expect to lose as much as ₹20,000-30,000 crore in monthly transaction volumes, as gaming-linked flows vanish.

Despite the disruption, policymakers have stressed that casual gaming and esports are unaffected. “The broader gaming ecosystem remains open for innovation and government support,” IT Secretary S. Krishnan clarified.

Against this backdrop, Bahl’s open call to entrepreneurs highlights how venture capital is pivoting to back fresh ideas from displaced RMG professionals. With many of these individuals skilled in scaling consumer-tech businesses, Titan Capital believes the crisis could accelerate innovation in adjacent sectors such as casual gaming, esports, social platforms and gaming-related technologies.