Fantasy Leagues Will Engage More Audiences With Sports

The Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG), India’s first industry body formed for protecting consumer interests through the self-regulation of the Sports Gaming industry, launched its flagship event ‘GamePlan’ in Mumbai today. The event brought together various stakeholders from the online Sports Gaming fraternity in India. The delegates who attended the annual conference discussed and deliberated upon various aspects of the online Sports Gaming industry, primarily focusing on the growth potential of Fantasy Sports in India.

‘The Laws Relating to Fantasy Sports Games in India’ was launched by Harsh Jain, Chairman of IFSG and CEO & Co-founder of Dream11, Nandan Kamath, Principal Lawyer at LawNK & Researcher at Sports Law & Policy Centre (SLPC) and Ranjan Chatterjee, Former Chief Secretary of Meghalaya & Former Member of NGT. This report delves into the skill element of Fantasy Sports games, need for self-regulation by online Sports Gaming companies, the use of third-party intellectual property in Fantasy Sports games and the recent developments in the Supreme Court of India relating to the determination of Dream11’s Fantasy Sports format as a game of predominant skill.

Talking about the audience engagement with sports and the introduction of fantasy leagues, Harsh Jain, Chairman of IFSG at the conference said, “Today, Indian sports fans enjoy a truly immersive and engaging viewing experience thanks to the convergence of sports and technology. With the advent of affordable smartphones and high-speed internet access, there has never been a better time to be a sports fan in India. Over the past decade, Fantasy Sports has been at the helm of evolving the Indian sports fans’ experience by giving them the perfect platform to showcase their sports knowledge and skill. 800 million Indian passive sports viewers have the opportunity to become active participants in every single match. Real-life sports & fantasy format games have a symbiotic relationship whereby the latter helps convert casual sports fans into core sports fans & further enhances their sports consumption. India has seen an exponential growth in Fantasy Sports users from 20 lakh in 2016 to 2 crore in 2018, with an estimated 10 crore Indian sports fans playing Fantasy Sports by 2020.”

From 20 lakh users in 2016, the base has grown to over 2 crore Fantasy Sports users in 2018, with estimated projections of over 10 crore Indian sports fans playing Fantasy Sports by 2020. India now has 56 Fantasy Sports operators, with 2017 alone seeing 30 new entities entering this exciting space. Popular sporting tournaments such as the IPL, NBA, ISL, PKL, and others are increasingly relying on fantasy sports as their primary tool for fan engagement.

On the launch of the legal report, Nandan Kamath, Principal Lawyer - LawNK & Researcher - SLPC said, “The recent developments in the courts are an encouraging sign for the Fantasy Sports ecosystem in India as it shows the willingness of courts to carefully and favourably evaluate game formats on criteria of predominance of skill. The SLPC report is a collaborative effort by leading law practitioners which aims to document the state of the law relating to online Fantasy Sports gaming and aims to lend clarity to the industry. We hope this empowers the entrepreneurial spirit and benefits and protects the interests of the wide variety of stakeholders involved with Fantasy Sports games, including operators, fans, players and governing bodies.”

IFSG aims to work closely with key stakeholders to create a conducive environment and ensure the growth of Sports Gaming in India by creating a unified front in the industry.

Bhaktvatsal Sharma

BW Reporters The author is a journalist with BW Businessworld