India, Aug. 24 -- This past week, the government dropped a bombshell on the Indian startup ecosystem - the 'Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025'.

For the real money gaming (RMG) industry, which is already grappling with a hostile landscape of state-level regulations, punitive taxes and ongoing litigations for the past three years, the new law sounds a death knell for this nascent segment.

The nightmare began on Monday and had already secured presidential assent by Friday. The target? A $2.4 Bn industry where unicorns like MPL, Dream11, and Games24x7 gallop and thrive happily, but are now forced to go into hibernation. In the last few days, nearly a dozen startups have gone into limbo, terminating their real-money gaming...