UPI gaming spends fall 23% in August after ban on real money games

UPI gaming spends fell sharply in August with volumes down 23% and value down 26% after the Online Gaming Act banned real money games such as rummy, poker and fantasy sports

Gaming spends through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions contracted in August after the enactment of the Online Gaming Act last month.

 

The volume of gaming spends declined nearly 23 per cent to 270.7 million payments in August from 351.24 million transactions in July.

 

The value of spends recorded by gaming firms on UPI fell 26 per cent to Rs 7,441.14 crore in August, compared with Rs 10,076.56 crore in the previous month.

 

The decline followed a blanket ban on all forms of real money games, including rummy, poker, ludo and fantasy sports. 

 

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, was passed on August 21.

 

In the past six months, gaming spends had peaked in April, clocking 505.37 million transactions with a total value of Rs 10,530.66 crore. April and May were high-intensity months for gaming companies due to the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season.

 

The average monthly value of transactions between March and July stood at Rs 10,439 crore.

 

Meanwhile, groceries and supermarkets continued to dominate UPI spends, recording over 3.12 billion payments valued at Rs 68,115.89 crore in August.

 

From a value perspective, debt collection agencies topped the charts, recording Rs 77,000 crore through a total of 151.49 million UPI transactions in the same month.