PokerBaazi parent plans $15 million ad spending

Moonshine, which also runs apps like CardBaazi and fantasy cricket game BalleBaazi, is also looking to offer new card games such as Solitaire.“Now we think it’s an apt time to take poker to the masses and so, we are tripling our marketing and advertising budgets,” said Moonshine co-founder and chief marketing officer Varun Ganjoo. “In gaming, the topmost source of discovery is through peer recommendations. And so, the experience of a user becomes important,” he said.

The company’s games fall in the real money gaming category. Moonshine had started its business with PokerBaazi, later expanding into fantasy sports and card games like rummy etc.

“Poker is a game of skill, and is in the real money gaming category. But we are marketing it more like a sport and not a game, and are also looking at tying up with management institutes and corporates,” he said. Ganjoo claimed that PokerBaazi has over 150,000 monthly active users and 20,000 daily active users. Its other apps like fantasy cricket have a more fluctuating user base. Overall, its user base is 12 million with 3 million exclusively playing poker and a majority playing fantasy cricket, he added.