Daybreak - Why Dream11's dream run with Indian cricket came to a grinding halt

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

The Online Gaming Bill, 2025 has sent shockwaves through India’s booming fantasy sports industry. Within hours of its passage in the Parliament on Wednesday, Dream11, the country’s first fantasy sports unicorn with over 200 million users, found itself on the chopping block. Smrita Singh Chandra, a former VP at Dream11, called the ban on real-money online games 'deeply unjust' and 'unethical,' warning of devastating economic fallout.At stake is the fantasy sports industry valued at nearly $2 billion and projected to hit $5 billion by 2030. But the government isn’t just worried about gaming addiction. It cited money laundering, tax evasion, and even national security risks.In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma unpacks the storm around Dream11: how the platform works, why Indian courts have long defended it as a 'game of skill,' and why critics and now the government, insist it is actually just gambling in disguise. Tune in.Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too? It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Ramon, Ganesh, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

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That is how Smitha Singchandra, the former VP of Dream 11, the first Indian fantasy sport company to become a unicorn, described the government's sudden, ban on real money online gaming. Just hours after the parliament passed the new online gaming bill on Wednesday, she took to LinkedIn saying declaring a platform illegal after years of validation, taxation, and even judicial recognition isn't just wrong.

It is deeply unethical. A heavy statement from someone who helped build Dream 11 from the inside. She also warned that the ban could slam a booming industry. As of now, fantasy sports in India is already worth nearly $2 billion and is projected to hit $5 billion by 2030. And behind these numbers are jobs, people, innovation and a whole new generation of digital sports fans. Now, this ban which is a part of the online gaming bill of 2025 bars every form of real money online game, regardless of whether it is skill-based or chance-based. Also, it is quite interesting to note that this is quite a sharp-y-y-ympie.

U-turn from April 2023 when the IT ministry's online gaming rules were largely seen as pro-industry. So it is not a long shot to say that this is a seismic change. Fantasy platforms like Dream 11, who were once legally safeguarded through court rulings, now face immediate shutdowns. It is like a death blow almost to the online real money gaming industry in India. And it shifts the debate to a fundamental question. Is Dream 11 gambling or is it a game of skill? You see, Indian courts over the years have said yes, it is skill and it is not betting.

But critics and now regulators argue that if people take money on unpredictable results, that is gambling in spirit. Dream 11 lies in that blurry middle. Not as random as a coin toss, but not as predictable as chess either. It is both skill and chance. And that is exactly why this debate is so heated up right now. In a cricket-obsessed nation, where do you draw the line between skill and betting? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken.

I'm your host, Nickda Sharma, and I don't chase the new cycle. Instead, every day of the week, my colleague Rahal Philipos and I will come to you with one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Friday the 22nd of August. Launched in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavad Shait, Dream11 struggled early when fantasy sports was still unheard of. The breakthrough actually came when they shifted to daily contests with small entry fee, making it easy for fans to try their luck. A decade later though, Dream 11 became a unicorn. It was backed by marquee investors like Tiger Global, Tennyson and later Falcon Edge and Kalari Capital. The company grew rapidly by advertising where India's heart beats the hottest.

Cricket. From TV sports during the IPL to digital first campaigns, Dream11 tapped into the passion of everyday fans. And its biggest co. Becoming the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League of 2020, putting the Dream 11 brand in front of millions in every match. And now with over 200 million users, Dream 11 has grown beyond a gaming platform to become a significant player in India's sports economy. So, how does Dream 11 actually work?

You can think of it like being the coach of your own fantasy cricket team. You select a playing 11 of real-life professionals who are about to take the field and your virtual scored scores points based on their actual performance. Runs, wickets, catches, strike rates. The twist is, you're not just playing for fun. Dream 11 charges a small entry fee to join contests and you've got to submit your Pank card and bank details to play. For example, you might pay $49 to enter a mega contest

with a price pool of over $10 crore rupees. If your chosen players light up the scoreboard and you top the leaderboard, you could win up to $30,000. It is part strategy, part chance. Because while stats and form matter, anything can happen once the match begins. And that is what makes this both thrilling and, well, controversial. To understand this conflict better, let us imagine three scenarios.

The first one is a coin toss. You put money on heads or tails. That is pure luck, right? No amount of cricket knowledge is going to help you there. That is straight up gambling. The second is betting on a match. Say, you bet on India beating England. Sure, you can check the team form, the pitch, the weather,

but once the match starts, it is out of your control. One no ball, one rain delay, and your prediction is useless. That is mostly chance with a tiny bit of skill. And the third scenario is what happens on Dream 11. Here, you're not just betting on who wins or loses. You are building your own fantasy team of 11 players and that takes some serious thinking. Who's in form, who plays well on slow pitches, how to balance batsmen and bowlers. If you know your cricket, your odds get a lot better.

But again, there is still luck involved, right? Your star player could get out on the first ball. somebody you did not pick might score a surprise 100 instead. So, is it gambling? Let us look at what the Indian courts think so far. Stay tuned. I'm Rachel from the Ken's audio team. Next year, the Ken turns 10.

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And if this is not for you, but you know someone else who would be interested, please to pass them the message. For more details, head to the link in the show notes. Multiple Indian high courts have said no, it is not gambling. And they call it a game of skill. To understand why, we need to look at the argument that the courts acknowledged about Dream 11. Here is what they considered. That Dream 11 isn't simply about picking favorites.

You get a credit budget, every player costs a different amount, and to build your 11-person dream team, you must look at multiple strategic options. You have to analyze player form, how they fare in specific conditions, recent score patterns, and the next thing you have to consider is also match context,

things like weather, pitch type, expected pace, and finally, a balance of roles in your fantasy team, batsmen, bowlers, wicketkeepers, and all-rounders. And all of this can be classified as planning and strategy. Which is why, in-in-court's explicitly recognize this as a dominant skill. In 2017, the Punjab and Haryana High Court said Dream11's outcomes depended on knowledge, judgment, and attention. These rulings were upheld by the Bombay, Rajasthan and Kerala High Courts.

Then, the Supreme Court backed this up in August 2021, clarifying that if skill predominates, it is legal under Indian law. For more clarity on this, imagine two players. One picks cricket stars randomly, maybe based on their fame, and the other studies data, tracks stats, watches form, and over time, the other one, the latter one, wins more often. And this measurable edge is why courts say that skill is the dominant factor here. Plus, the scoring system spreads risk.

You're not betting on a single match outcome. You earn points from multiple players' performances which smoothens luck's influence. So to sum it up, dream a little. 11 demands strategy, planning and knowledge. And this is ultimately the argument for skill-based gaming. Next, we will examine the flip side, why critics, and now the government, argue that Dream 11 is gambling in disguise. Stay tuned.

Let's get the most obvious thing out of the way first. Sports outcomes are inherently unpredictable. Even the sharpest of predictions can be derailed by a single twist of fate. And that is where chance remains powerful. Unlike, say, chess, where scale virtually determines outcomes, Dream 11 still hinges on moments that you cannot control. Also, importantly, real money is on the line here. You pay to play, you risk that money.

And that is wagering. Wagering on uncertain events is gambling by most definitions. Critics have highlighted real-world harms. Young users, including minors, have reportedly lost significant amounts, sometimes resulting in devastating consequences, including suicide. These platforms are designed with addictive algorithms that keep players hooked by giving them the hope that they can win their losses back. And this is quite similar to what happens in online casinos.

From a business perspective, only a fraction of the participants win. In a contest of, say, 10,000 users, maybe 200 walk away with prize money. That means 9,800 users lose their stake. and in practice, that is exactly how gambling works. Globally, many jurisdictions treat real money fantasy games as gambling. In the UK, for example, they require betting licenses, and in parts of the US, it is only allowed under strict skill exemptions. Now, India's online gaming bill has taken a hard stance.

Any game involving real money is banned, period. The law bypasses legal nuances around skill versus chance, focusing on financial risk and consumer protection. So critics and the government argue that despite the strategic play, Dream 11 still exposes users to financial harm and uncertainty. And therefore, they assert that it qualifies as gambling. Also, an important justification from the government's end that I forgot to mention earlier is that this ban is not just about gaming addiction.

It is about national security. Lawmakers have pointed to real money gaming apps being misused for money laundering through digital wallets and crypto, serving as hidden communication hubs for terror groups and letting offshore companies dodge Indian taxes and laws. In other words, this bill is as much about security and sovereignty as it is about gaming. And now, coming back to the skills versus chance debate. Dream 11, unfortunately, does not fit neatly into either box. It is not a game of pure chance, nor is it a controlled, predictable game of skill.

It sits in the messy middle. So what's next? The online gaming bill may be headed for a legal showdown in the near future. Legal experts are warning of a fierce challenge. Widush Pat Singania, the managing partner at Crida Legal and a specialist in gaming law told a Hindu that the bill could be struck down as unconstitutional, arguing that it restricts trade and oversteps legislative authority. And on the other side, IT Minister Ashvini Veshnav has,

has insisted that the bill has been carefully drafted and that government lawyers are confident that it can withstand court scrutiny. As I'm recording this on Thursday evening, there are already reports of Dream 11 shutting down its core real money gaming business. Mass layoffs and severe cost-cutting measures are in the horizon for the gaming unicorn. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings.

A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories, newsletters and podcast extras. To subscribe, head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on top of the Ken website. Today's episode was hosted by Snigda Sharma and edited by Rajiv CN.