Paytm First Games Referral Code

First Games stopped money formats three days after the Act received assent. Two things about the old ₹500 referral were never disclosed on this page: what actually triggered payment, and whose business you were joining.

Paytm First Games discontinued money-based formats with effect from 25 August 2025 — three days after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 received Presidential assent on 22 August. There was no wind-down period and no legal challenge. The company continues to offer permissible online social games, which the Act expressly allows, but the paid contests and the referral programme attached to them are finished.

The Act prohibits online money games nationally. Section 2 defines one as a game played by paying fees, or depositing money or other stakes, with the expectation of winning monetary or other enrichment — and it applies irrespective of whether the game is based on skill, chance or both. Section 5 prohibits offering such a game, section 6 prohibits advertising one, section 7 prohibits facilitating the payments, and section 9(2) sets the advertising penalty at up to two years' imprisonment or ₹50 lakh, or both. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026 have been in force since 1 May 2026.

Now the two things this page should have said while the programme ran.

First, what triggered the ₹500. Not a download, and not a game. Payment required the person you referred to complete KYC. In a real-money gaming app, KYC is not an onboarding formality — it is the step that makes deposits and withdrawals possible. The referral was therefore paid at precisely the point where your friend became able to put money in. The monthly cap was ₹10,000, and the referred person received ₹50 in the Paytm wallet.

Second, whose business it was. First Games carried the Paytm name and that name did most of the persuasive work, but it was treated as a joint venture in Paytm's consolidated accounts, did not contribute to consolidated revenues, and had a carrying value of nil as at 30 June 2025 — its share of profit or loss amounting to less than one percent of consolidated results. Paytm subsequently recorded a one-time impairment of ₹190 crore on a loan to First Games Technology. So the reassurance people took from the brand — a listed, regulated payments company standing behind the app — did not describe the arrangement. It described the logo.

That distinction is worth carrying to other pages on this site. A large brand's name on a gaming, lending or trading product frequently marks a joint venture, a licensing deal or a distribution arrangement rather than the parent's own balance sheet. The question to ask is not who the app is named after but who is liable if it fails.

If you hold a balance, deal with First Games' own support. Free-to-play social games from the same operator remain lawful to play; what cannot exist is a reward paid because someone else staked money.