RMG ban impact: Flutter cuts 350 jobs at Junglee Games, redeploys 600 staff mostly to its Hyderabad GCC

Junglee Games has joined a growing list of real-money gaming companies that have laid off employees in the past few months

Flutter Entertainment has laid off 350 employees at real-money gaming (RMG) firm Junglee Games and redeployed 600 others, primarily to its Hyderabad Global Capability Centre (GCC), the global betting giant told Moneycontrol.

The move follows the government's recent law imposing a blanket ban on online money games where a user makes a deposit, directly or indirectly, with the expectation of earning winnings on that deposit.

Flutter is also exploring whether these employees can be assigned to other regulated markets where it can legally offer its existing products, along with efforts to identify alternative business models for games without a cash in or cash out component that could operate within India's revised legal framework, a company spokesperson told Moneycontrol.

"While our core operations have been paused, we are working to assess all possible next steps. We believe this is an opportunity to innovate and reset," the spokesperson said, adding that impacted employees parted with generous payouts.

When did Flutter acquire Junglee Games?

Founded by Ankush Gera in 2012, Junglee Games operates online rummy platform Junglee Rummy and fantasy gaming platform Howzat with a combined userbase of 150 million.

Flutter Entertainment, formed through the merger of Irish bookmaker Paddy Power and gambling firm Betfair, had acquired a 50.1 percent stake in Junglee Games for $67 million in January 2021, which it later increased to 95 percent, taking its total investment in the company to $237 million.

Apart from Junglee Games, Flutter operates a portfolio of online sports betting and RMG (iGaming) brands such as FanDuel, Sky Betting & Gaming, Sportsbet, PokerStars, Paddy Power, Sisal, Snai, tombola, Betfair, MaxBet, Adjarabet and Betnacional.

How Junglee's RMG halt impacted Flutter's Q3 financials?

Earlier this month, Flutter had taken an impairment charge of $556 million (around Rs 4,932 crore) tied to Junglee Games stopping its RMG business in India in August 2025.

"The sudden regulatory change in India was extremely disappointing. Flutter has invested significantly in India over the last number of years, responsibly delivering innovative skill-based games to Indian customers," Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson said in a letter to shareholders on November 12.

During the earnings call, Flutter Entertainment CEO said the company was "frustrated at the speed with which the bill that emerged came into law" and expressed hope for more legal clarity on the extent to which certain games of skill could be allowed back in future.

“They have had 70 years worth of constitutional protection in India. It’s not that long ago that we saw Black Friday in America and look where we are today,” Jackson said, referring to the 2011 US crackdown that shut down major poker sites overnight, before the industry later bounced back under state-regulated online gaming laws.

Flutter’s Indian operations were expected to contribute approximately $200 million revenue and $50 million Adjusted EBITDA in 2025, with approximately half of the profits to be delivered in the second half of 2025.

The impairment charge resulted in Flutter Entertainment posting a net loss of $789 million in the third quarter of 2025, a significant jump from $114 million loss in the same quarter last year. The company's overall revenue, however, grew 17 percent QoQ to $3.79 billion for the quarter.

Flutter Entertainment has also lowered its outlook for 2025, forecasting revenue of $16.69 billion and EBITDA of $2.915 billion.

Did India's regulatory changes affect Flutter's Hyderabad GCC?

Flutter stated the regulatory changes in India have not impacted its Hyderabad GCC which had over 1,000 employees as of April 2025.

Employees at this facility work across areas such as data engineering, game integrity services, HR technology and analytics, finance, procurement, safety and security, and customer operations.

Which other firms have laid off employees due to India's RMG ban?

Junglee Games has joined a growing list of real-money gaming companies that have laid off employees at a large scale in the past few months as the industry grapples with the fallout of the ban.

This includes Gameskraft, Head Digital Works (A23), Mobile Premier League (MPL), Nazara Technologies-backed Baazi Games (Moonshine Technology), and Games24x7.

Head Digital Works and a few other real-money gaming operators have also challenged the constitutional validity of the law, and the Supreme Court is currently hearing the matter, with the next hearing slated for November 26.