According to a court document seen by Reuters, the Indian online gaming company Winzo has filed a lawsuit against Google to prevent the internet giant from enabling real-money fantasy sports and rummy games on its platform. Winzo claims that doing so would be discriminatory.
Winzo provides paid games in those genres, as well as many others, including auto racing, puzzles, and card games, so it won't entirely profit from a recently enacted Google policy.
For years, Alphabet's Google business forbade games involving real money in India, but this month it announced that as part of a year-long trial experiment, games like fantasy sports and rummy may join its Play Store marketplace in India.
Advertising Standards Violated by 14 Gaming Companies' Ads In a policy change during the IPL, Google stated that these two categories included games in which competitors exploited their understanding of athletic events and athletes, strategized, or memorized the distribution of playing cards. Other game forms and how they are handled were not mentioned.
In its lawsuit, Winzo claimed that it had contacted Google on September 10 to object to the amended policy, claiming that it was "unfair," but that it had received no response, leaving it to seek court redress.
The lawsuit filed by Winzo claimed that Google's choice "amounts to unfair trade behavior."
Report: RBI and MeitY request Google to take action against illegal digital lending apps.
According to a person with firsthand information, the complaint was filed on Monday and will be heard in the coming weeks.
Requests for comment from Google did not immediately receive a response.
An Indian government panel has requested the establishment of a regulatory body to categorize online games as being based on skill or chance, introduce regulations to block prohibited formats, and adopt a stricter stance on gambling websites. This legal challenge comes at the same time as these requests.
The gaming businesses Dream11 and Mobile Premier League (MPL), which are both incredibly popular for playing fantasy cricket, have received funding from outside investors including Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.
According to Winzo, there are roughly 85 million users in India, and each of them uses the site for an hour a day on average. According to the lawsuit, Winzo made nearly $13 million (about Rs. 100 crore) per year in 2020–21.
