Dream Sports Will Not Challenge India's New Gaming Law: Co-Founder Harsh Jain
- Dream Sports will not challenge India’s new gaming law despite losing most of its revenue from paid contests.
- Dream11 halted all money-based fantasy games on August 22 and has shifted fully to free-to-play formats.
- Co-founder Harsh Jain says the company will comply with the law but may revive its old model if regulations change in the future.
Dream Sports, the parent company of fantasy sports giant Dream11, has decided not to challenge the constitutional validity of India’s new gaming law. Speaking in an interview with Moneycontrol on August 25, Co-founder Harsh Jain made it clear that the company wants to look ahead instead of engaging in a legal battle with the government.
“I think the government has made it clear that they don’t want this right now. I don’t want to live in the past. We want to focus entirely on the future and not fight with the government on something that they don’t want”, Jain said. His statement comes at a time when several real-money gaming companies are reportedly preparing to challenge the law in court.
The decision is significant for Dream11 because a large part of its revenue and all of its profits come from cash-based contests. The company reported an operational revenue of Rs 6,384.49 crore for FY23, a sharp rise from Rs 3,841 crore in FY22. Almost 95 percent of this income was driven by paid fantasy contests. But after the new law came into effect, Dream11 had to stop all money-based contests on August 22. The platform has now shifted completely to free-to-play social games.
The new law, which has been passed by Parliament and received the President’s assent, prohibits online money games. These are defined as games where a user deposits money, either directly or indirectly, with the hope of winning more money in return. The move has created uncertainty in India’s gaming industry, where real-money gaming had become one of the fastest growing segments.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently said in an interview that he expects legal challenges to the law, and the Supreme Court is already examining related cases. The apex court has reserved its judgment on matters linked to GST notices worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore that were issued to gaming and casino companies. It is also looking into state-level laws brought in by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that had earlier sought to ban online money-based games.
For Jain, however, the company’s position is clear. He explained that Dream Sports has always operated within the legal framework and does not want to go against the new law. He recalled that the company’s business model of paid contests had been running for 14 years and was previously considered constitutionally valid, with Supreme Court judgments backing fantasy sports as games of skill. Over this time, the company built a base of more than 260 million users in India. But now, with the new Act in place, Jain said the company wants to comply fully.
He also left the door open for the future, saying that if the law changes again or if a new regulatory framework allows real-money games, Dream11 would be ready to restart that business model. But for now, the focus is on adapting to the new environment and continuing to grow in other ways.
Looking back, Jain reflected that the industry may have been too slow in building strong self-regulation. Earlier this year in March, the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), of which Dream11 is a founding member, came together with the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and the E-Gaming Federation (EGF) to adopt a joint Code of Ethics. The idea was to set common standards for user safety, responsible gaming, and fair advertising. The measures included age-gating, strict KYC norms, self-imposed spending limits, self-exclusion tools, annual audits, and transparency through regular reporting. Jain admitted that while this was a step in the right direction, it may have come 'a little bit too late'.
He said the industry had been waiting for a regulator to arrive, but perhaps companies should have taken a tougher approach on self-regulation earlier. This, he feels, might have helped create a stronger case for real-money games.
Dream Sports was founded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth. The company grew rapidly over the years and attracted big global investors. In November 2021, it was valued at $8 billion after raising $840 million in funding led by Falcon Edge, DST Global, D1 Capital, Redbird Capital, Tiger Global, TPG, and Footpath Ventures. Apart from Dream11, its portfolio also includes FanCode, a sports content and commerce platform, DreamSetGo, which offers sports travel experiences, Dream Game Studios, a game development arm, and Dream Sports Foundation, which drives its philanthropic efforts.
As the company adapts to the new reality, it is clear that Dream Sports is not looking to fight the government. Instead, it is preparing to find opportunities within the new boundaries set by law. Whether the industry eventually gets a more favorable regulation remains to be seen, but for now, Dream Sports wants to remain compliant and move forward without legal battles.
