As the Indian Premier League (IPL) season unfolds with high energy and drama on the field, in a parallel virtual universe, the Dream11 IPL engrosses a wide audience and enables them to participate in the matches. This personal touch and experience of being involved in the sport is what has been making fantasy sports a rapidly growing industry.
A recently released report titled ‘Fantasy Sports: A catalyst for the sports economy’ by Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), Indian industry body for Fantasy Sports (FS), and professional services firm Deloitte India closely analysed the robust fantasy sports industry of the country. Studying the impact of fantasy sports on the Indian economy, the report found that with over 300 fantasy sports platforms and 18 crore users, India is the fastest-growing fantasy sports market in the world and attracted Rs 15,000 crore in FDI till FY-22 which is expected to touch Rs 25,000 crore by FY27. Their tax contribution is also set to take a jump from the current Rs 4,500 crore to Rs 26,000 crore in the next five years.
FIFS director general Joy Bhattacharjya says, “We are thrilled to see the outstanding growth of India’s Fantasy Sports industry and its positive impact on the sports economy as well as the overall economic health of our country.”
According to the report, the industry has also created high-skill jobs for 12,800 people and fantasy sports platforms indirectly employed 7,500 professionals in FY22, and are expected to generate 10,500 indirect job opportunities by FY27. Currently valued at Rs 75000 crore, the industry grew by 31 per cent to Rs 6800 crore in FY22 and is expected to touch Rs 25,240 crore by FY27. The report also indicates penetration beyond the metro cities and mentions that 60 per cent of user transactions have come in through tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The investments could swell too. So far, players have invested Rs 3,100 crore towards development of the sports ecosystem by way of sponsorships and partnerships with various sports leagues in FY22. This number is expected to reach Rs 6,500 in FY27. With an increasing participation and viewership of women in sports, women comprise 30 per cent while millennials and GenZ comprise 75 per cent of the user base at present.
Prashanth Rao, partner, consulting, Deloitte India says, “Our analysis suggests that fantasy sports hold tremendous potential to help build a resilient sports ecosystem in India and significantly contribute to the nation's digital economy. The increased allocation for sports in the 2023 Union Budget, new innovations, investor confidence and growing consumer demand will help generate fresh prospects for entrepreneurs and stimulate advancement of this sector in India.”
The report credits the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ vision of the government for making the country a hotbed for innovation, championing advanced algorithms, and breaking into the web3 space. With government support, the industry is set to boom further.
What are fantasy sports?
A fantasy sport is a virtual game played with either proxies or real players of a professional sport assembled in imaginary or virtual teams. Though at a nascent stage in India, fantasy sports have been hailed as ‘game of skills’ by several Supreme Court judges. An Inter-Ministerial Task Force by the government was also formed to regulate online gaming centrally, in September 2022, resulting in the allocation of a nodal Ministry for Online Gaming in December 2022 and the notification of the IT rules for online gaming in April 2023.
Fantasy sports are also not limited to cricket, but other sports too have found a growing popularity among users. For instance, Fantasy Akhada offers fantasy leagues for kabaddi, Dream11 offers leagues for football, baseball, basketball, hockey, kabaddi and more, and Twelfth Man offers football leagues, in addition to cricket leagues.