Google has announced to ban Paytm from the Play Store. It has also banned the Paytm First Games. Google said that Paytm invited action for violating the company’s gambling policies. Paytm is an e-commerce payments service. It is among India’s largest startups. It is also the highest valued startup in the country. It has a huge market in the country. It is a heavily used digital payment service. Its headquarters is based in Noida in India. Google said that Paytm’s consumer-facing app has been suspended. Besides, Paytm First Games has also been blocked. The company said it took cognizance of repeated violations of its policies by Paytm.
The suspension came because of the Paytm First Games. Google said that the Paytm First Games betting service was violating its app policies. It said that the Play Store prohibits unregulated gambling apps and online casinos. Gambling is illegal in India. But there is no law in place to regulate or declare online gambling an illegal act. Google is believed to have taken note of Paytm’s promotion of fantasy sports service in its app. The repeated promotion violated Google’s policies and invited a punitive action. The Paytm First Games is a gaming pro app to play fantasy cricket. It supports more than 300 games. Paytm First Games is also available as a standalone app.
Paytm in a statement confirmed about Google’s action against the company’s app. The statement said that Paytm’s Android app is temporarily unavailable on the App Store for updates and new downloads. It promised to sort out the issue and back very soon. The company assured that consumers’ money is completely safe. Google’s action against Paytm coincides with the search engine announcing its play gambling policies in India. It comes just a day ahead of the Indian Premier League, 2020 begins in UAE. Google’s action is a warning to other similar platforms about its gambling policies. According to Paytm’s claim, it has over 5 crore active users in India.
