Nazara Terminates Moonshine Acquisition Plan Citing New Online Gaming Law The company said it had issued a termination notice to I3 Interactive on August 31.
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Nazara Technologies Limited has withdrawn from its proposed acquisition of a minority stake in Moonshine Technology Private Limited, the parent company of online poker platform PokerBaazi.
The move follows the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which bans real money online games including poker.
In a filing to the stock exchanges, the company said it had issued a termination notice to I3 Interactive on August 31.
Nazara was earlier set to purchase 38,073 equity shares, or 0.96 percent of Moonshine's equity, from I3 Interactive Inc. for about INR 15.9 crore. The company said the new law constitutes a "material adverse effect" under the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement.
Following the passage of the legislation, Nazara suspended its real money gaming operations. The company had announced plans to acquire a 46.07 percent stake in Moonshine in September last year through purchases from I3 Interactive and other sellers, including PSM Group Limited, Bellerive Capital 6 Limited, and Shells and Shores Consultancy & Holdings LLP.
Nazara has maintained that it does not consolidate Moonshine's financial results and has no direct revenue exposure to real money gaming. However, the ban effectively undermines the value of its investment in PokerBaazi.
While major platforms such as Dream11, Gameskraft and MPL have not challenged the restrictions, Head Digital Works, the parent of A23, has filed a constitutional petition in the Karnataka High Court, which has issued a notice to the central government.
