BREAKING NEWS: Pocket52 to Halt Operations in July; Gameskraft Calls it a “Strategic Pause”

In a significant development reverberating through India’s online gaming landscape, Gameskraft announced that its poker platform, Pocket52, will discontinue operations in July 2025. The official word from the company is that this is a “strategic pause.”

This move comes at a time when India’s real-money gaming (RMG) scene is going through some serious reshuffling and rethinking, largely thanks to a regulatory climate that’s as clear as mud, a hefty 28% GST on player deposits that landed like a ton of bricks on gaming platforms in October 2023, and the ever-present shadow of scary retrospective tax demands that are being fought out tooth and nail in the Supreme Court. It’s worth remembering that Pocket52 isn’t the first to take such a step; other poker platforms like IndiaPlays also had to fold ’em earlier, struck by that same GST ruling.

Pocket52’s Story: From Bright Idea to a Strategic Breather

Pocket52 first dealt its cards to the Indian poker community in 2018. It was the brainchild of a group of entrepreneurs: Nitesh Salvi, Saurav Suman, Debashish Bhattacharjee, and Satyam Verma. The platform, launched as India’s first cryptographically secured poker network, didn’t take long to catch on with online poker players. In that first year, the startup pulled in $600,000 in seed funding, with backers including Speciale Invest and some well-known poker players like Abhigya Sagar. The momentum kept building, and in 2020, Pocket52 landed a $1.75 million Series A funding round from Gameskraft, a move that eventually saw Gameskraft take over the platform.

Fast-forward to today, and Gameskraft, a big name in India’s skill-based online gaming sector, issued an official statement about the upcoming halt. They acknowledged that poker is a key part of the industry’s value and that getting into this space with Pocket52 was a deliberate strategic move.

The company explained, “While Pocket52 saw encouraging engagement, the company has recognised the need for a deeper momentum and a more focused strategy to meaningfully scale and deliver a differentiated experience to players. Staying true to this commitment, Gameskraft has announced a strategic pause in the operations of its Poker platform, Pocket52, as part of a broader plan to reassess and reimagine its long-term approach to the category.”

They also clarified that they’re not abandoning the game, stating, “We remain committed to the Poker ecosystem in India. This pause allows us to reimagine what a best-in-class Poker platform should look like, one that delivers excellence, innovation, and sustainable impact.”

Gameskraft has been quick to assure players that all the necessary information is being sent out and will continue to be shared as things move forward. For users, some key dates to remember are May 22, 2025, when the ‘Add Cash‘ feature will be switched off, and May 30, 2025, when actual gameplay will end. The app itself will stay accessible for players until July 2025. And importantly, the company has stressed that all existing customer funds are safe and sound and will be accessible through the usual withdrawal processes, with clear instructions being sent to everyone. Gameskraft also confirmed that this operational pause won’t lead to any job losses within the company.

They wrapped up their press release by saying, “Gameskraft remains steadfast in its mission to create innovative, high-impact digital experiences for players across the country.”

The Storm Clouds: GST and Regulatory Turbulence

This decision to pause Pocket52’s operations isn’t happening in a bubble. It directly reflects the seriously choppy waters the Indian real-money gaming industry is trying to navigate. That steep 28% GST on online gaming platforms was a significant hit, but perhaps even more unsettling are those retrospective tax demands hanging over the industry like a guillotine.

Gameskraft was one of the first big players to get slapped with one of these demands, worth an eye-watering ₹21,000 Crores. And that’s just part of a much wider net of retrospective tax claims that reportedly touch ₹1.20 Lakh Crores across more than 70 gaming companies. The government argues that activities on platforms like Gameskraft’s Rummy Culture, Gamezy, and, yes, Pocket52 are “actionable claims” that should be taxed at the same rate as betting and gambling. They want this to be applied retrospectively to all bets made on these platforms going back to July 2017.

There was a brief moment of hope when the Karnataka High Court quashed the ₹21,000 Crore showcause notice against Gameskraft. However, the Supreme Court later stayed the High Court’s order. This means that colossal tax demand is still very much a live issue, tied up in a high-stakes legal fight currently playing out in the nation’s apex court. This battle also includes petitions from several other gaming companies and industry groups, and its outcome could have massive implications for the future of many RMG businesses in India.

An Industry Shifting: The Consolidation Game

This tough regulatory and tax environment is undoubtedly fueling a big wave of consolidation and strategic mergers and acquisitions within the Indian gaming industry. Companies are looking to get bigger, offer more diverse games, and build stronger financial foundations to try to ride out this storm.

We’ve seen some big moves recently. Nazara Technologies, for example, acquired a 47.10% stake in Moonshine Technology Pvt Ltd, the parent company of the popular poker platform PokerBaazi, in a deal valued at ₹982 Crores. In another significant development, Delta Corp Limited signed an agreement with Head Digital Works to pick up Deltatech Gaming, which runs the online poker platform Adda52.

And then there’s OneVerse, the new-age metaverse and gaming tech company, which has been on a buying spree, adding poker platforms like Spartan Poker, Calling Station, PokerSaint, and PokerDangal to its stable. OneVerse has said that these acquisitions are a key moment in the evolution of the companies involved and will help redefine the future of gaming.

Industry watchers believe that these consolidations and shutdowns will become even more common as companies try to navigate this complex and often unpredictable regulatory landscape. Gameskraft’s “strategic pause” for Pocket52 looks like another chapter in this ongoing story of adaptation and realignment in a sector facing significant challenges and transformative pressures.

This is a developing story. Keep following PokerGuru for all the latest updates!