India Launches Probe Into Google's Gaming Policies

India's competition watchdog is investigating Google's alleged discriminatory policies against real-money gaming platforms like WinZO, which claim unfair exclusion from Google's Play Store. Complaints have arisen due to Google's preferential treatment of certain gaming categories, adding to Google's ongoing regulatory challenges in India.

India's competition authority, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has initiated a probe into Google's alleged restrictive policies concerning real-money gaming on its platform. The investigation was triggered by a complaint from online gaming platform WinZO, which claims Google's practices are discriminatory.

This investigation adds to Google's growing regulatory concerns in India, where the tech giant has already faced penalties for abusing its market dominance, particularly in the Android operating system sector.

Google's revised policy permits real-money games in specific categories like fantasy sports and rummy, excluding broader categories such as carrom, puzzles, and car racing. This selective approval has led to accusations of a biased two-tier market system that disadvantages certain app developers, according to the CCI order.

(With inputs from agencies.)