RUSH by Hike, founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, has announced that its casual real money gaming (RMG) platform, Rush, will exit India following the government’s decision to impose a complete ban on RMG platforms. The company will now shift its focus to the United States and other international markets.
In a LinkedIn post, Mittal criticised the government’s move, noting that an earlier and clearer decision would have saved billions in wasted investment and prevented the industry from being left in limbo.
According to Moneycontrol, Mittal stated that Rush scaled to over $500 million in gross revenue in four years in India. Rush stated that it has over 5 million players across 14 skill-based mobile games and have earned $480 million in winnings every year.
Early product metrics in global markets already show 10 times higher ARPU, double the retention, and a superior ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), he said. In the future, Rush also plans to expand to Australia, and parts of Africa and Southeast Asia.
Mittal said, “We understand and respect the government’s decision to take a moral stance on what it believes to be right for society… What we do wish is that this decision had been made sooner, with clearer communication. That would have saved billions in investment and avoided leaving the industry in regulatory limbo for years.”
On the move to the US, he highlighted, “The US also opens up new business models beyond RMG — advertising & virtual goods — categories already worth billions, with far higher consumer spend than in India.”
