New Delhi, Aug. 20 -- On Wednesday, at 5am, a senior executive who tests games for MPL was woken up with a call from his parents. He never gets a call that early and thought it was some kind of emergency. "Do you have your job?" they asked. He was flabbergasted at the line of questions, and while they hounded him with questions, he saw missed calls from his brother as well. He had no idea until he saw the messages from his friends, colleagues and even former colleagues asking him what would happen next.

The MPL employee is among 2 lakh employed with 400 online gaming companies whose future is at stake as the government aims to bring down the shutters on fantasy sports, online rummy, poker, and other real-money games.

On Wednesday evenin...