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Delhi startup that made Google kneel: How WinZO cornered the tech giant
WinZO took the fight to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), accusing Google of discrimination, unfair terms, and even stifling innovation.
Real-money gaming is no niche — it makes up 86% of India’s online gaming revenue. According to industry estimates, the sector pulled in around $3 billion in 2024.
In India’s bustling capital of Delhi, a young gaming startup decided to take on one of the world’s most formidable Big tech corporations — and won the kind of concession few thought possible.
Founded by Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda in 2019, WinZO Games, a homegrown real-money gaming platform, didn’t just complain about Google’s policies. It waged a relentless, two-year legal and regulatory battle that pried open the gates of the Google Play Store — a marketplace where access can make or break a gaming business.
The flashpoint came in 2022. Google had just rolled out a “pilot program” allowing certain real-money games onto its Play Store. But there was a catch — the welcome mat was laid out only for daily fantasy sports (DFS) and rummy apps.
For WinZO and dozens of other skill-based game developers, this wasn’t just exclusion — it was economic exile. Those on the inside enjoyed prime placement, app store trust, and drastically lower customer acquisition costs. Those outside? Forced to rely on clunky APK downloads and higher ad spends to compete.
WinZO took the fight to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), accusing Google of discrimination, unfair terms, and even stifling innovation.
Over the next two years, WinZO would become a thorn in Google’s side, methodically pointing out what it called “opaque and biased” processes. It flagged the tech giant’s reliance on select industry bodies — themselves tied to fantasy sports and rummy — to decide what counted as a “skill game.”
It accused Google of double standards in advertising, citing the takedown of WinZO’s own YouTube channel while offshore betting and gambling platforms continued to run ads with impunity. It even documented 143 such illegal channels still operating after being flagged directly to Google.
The CCI took note. In November 2024, it ruled there was a prima facie case of abuse of dominance under multiple provisions of India’s competition law. The investigation deepened.
Now, the giant has finally flinched. In its “Commitment Proposal” to the CCI, Google offered to open the Play Store to all legal real-money skill games — not just DFS and rummy.
The catch: developers will still need certification from a “Recognised Third Party” that the game is skill-based and legal under Indian law. Ads will also be opened up to all certified skill games, ending the two-tier system that WinZO says entrenched market leaders.
For many in the industry, this is a historic shift. Google’s walled garden is cracking open, and the playing field — at least in theory — is being leveled.
WinZO isn’t popping champagne just yet. The company warns that Google still retains too much discretionary control over who gets certified and which certifiers count. Without fully independent and transparent standards — the kind used by IITs and Stanford to classify skill games — it fears the new system could be “old wine in a new bottle.”
Then there’s the timing. The DFS and rummy platforms that got early access now control over 90% of the market and have already moved into casual gaming — WinZO’s heartland. For critics, Google’s move feels like leveling the playing field after its favourites have already crossed the finish line.
Real-money gaming is no niche — it makes up 86% of India’s online gaming revenue. According to industry estimates, the sector pulled in around $3 billion in 2024. For Google, the new rules also mean new revenue streams from developers it once kept out.
The CCI is now seeking public comments until August 20 before deciding whether to accept Google’s commitments. The larger antitrust probe into whether Google abused its dominance is still underway.
Whatever the final verdict, WinZO’s battle is already part of Indian tech folklore — a rare case of a startup dragging Big Tech to the regulatory table and making it blink. It’s a reminder that in the digital age, even the mightiest gatekeepers can be challenged — if you’re willing to play the long game.
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