MPL to layoff 300 employees in India as new law bans real money gaming: Report

Indian online gaming app Mobile Premier League (MPL) will cut around 60% of its local workforce — roughly 300 employees — as it reels from the government’s ban on paid online games, according to a Reuters report.

Teams across marketing, finance, operations, engineering, and legal will be affected as the company pivots to free-to-play games and expands in the US market.

“With a heavy heart we have decided that we will be downsizing our India Team significantly,” MPL CEO Sai Srinivas wrote in an internal email on Sunday, without specifying numbers, as per the Reuters report. “India accounted for 50% of M-League’s revenues and this change would mean that we would no longer be making any revenue from India in the near future,” he added.

Backed by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), MPL was valued at $2.3 billion in 2021. The company’s India revenue last year was about $100 million. It also operates free-to-play titles in Europe and paid games in the US and Brazil.

MPL’s top competitor, Dream11 — valued at $8 billion — has also pulled its fantasy cricket games. Other platforms like My11Circle, WinZO, Zupee and PokerBaazi have halted their real-money offerings, as the industry faces its most significant disruption yet.

The crackdown on real-money gaming follows the recent passage of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. Signed into law on August 22, it prohibits all online games involving monetary stakes — irrespective of whether they are skill-based or chance-driven.

The bill cites concerns over financial and psychological harm, especially among youth and economically disadvantaged groups, as the rationale for the sweeping ban.