MPL Cuts Up to 60% of Jobs After India Online Gaming Ban

India’s fast-growing online gaming sector has hit a wall, and the impact is already being felt by one of its biggest names. Mobile Premier League (MPL), a company once at the heart of India’s esports and iGaming boom, is now preparing to let go of much of its staff. The decision follows a sweeping ban on cash-based online games passed by the Indian Parliament in August.

Good to know

• MPL may reduce staff by as much as 60%, with around 300 roles on the line.
• India accounted for half of MPL’s revenue before the ban.
• Other global operators, like Flutter’s Junglee, have already pulled the plug on local operations.

The new law, signed by the President on August 22, prohibits games where players pay entry fees, make deposits, or stake money for potential profit. With the ban now in force, operators have had little choice but to pull back. Flutter wasted no time and closed its Junglee Gaming division on August 25. MPL followed soon after, shutting down deposits on its platform MPL.live and halting all cash games. Visitors today see a blunt banner:

“Deposits are no longer available on the MPL app. In compliance with law, no cash games are available on MPL.”

Internal Fallout at MPL

For MPL, the consequences go beyond shutting down its local platform. In an internal email reviewed by Reuters, CEO Sai Srinivas admitted the company would have to scale down sharply. “It is with a heavy heart we have decided we will be downsizing our India team significantly,” he wrote. Srinivas also promised support for affected workers during the transition but avoided giving an exact figure.

Sources close to the company estimated around 300 of the 500-person India workforce may lose jobs, affecting teams in marketing, engineering, finance, legal, and operations. Srinivas was blunt about the financial reality:

“India accounted for 50% of M-League revenues. This change would mean that we would no longer be making any revenue from India in the near future.”

Despite the setback, MPL isn’t retreating from gaming altogether. The company has been quietly building a presence in the United States, where esports and fantasy contests operate under clearer regulatory conditions. While India once provided the bulk of MPL’s revenue, its leadership now sees global expansion as the only path forward.

Dream11 Walks Away from Indian Cricket Sponsorship

The fallout from the ban has not only hit operators like MPL but also shaken Indian cricket. Fantasy sports leader Dream11, one of the country’s most recognized gaming brands, has walked away as the principal jersey sponsor of the Indian men’s cricket team. The decision follows the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, which bans all forms of real-money online gaming, including fantasy sports contests. Dream11’s exit leaves the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) scrambling, with the national side possibly entering the Asia Cup without a sponsor logo on its jersey—an unusual sight in today’s cricket economy.

The sponsorship deal itself was no small arrangement. Dream11 had agreed to pay ₹358 crore over three years when it took over from BYJU’S in July 2023, with payments of ₹3 crore per home game and ₹1 crore for away fixtures. That deal was supposed to last through the 2026 T20 World Cup. But with the new law criminalizing the promotion and advertising of real-money gaming, Dream11, which earns most of its revenue from cash contests, has wound down its flagship business and started shifting toward free-to-play formats. “Our association with Dream11 is over after the new legislation has come into force,” confirmed BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, who also noted that the board is now considering new sponsors.