Dream11 Crosses 250 Million Users as India Fantasy Sports Market Eyes Rs 50,000 Crore Valuation by 2028
Dream11 Hits a Quarter-Billion Users as IPL 2026 Kicks Off
India’s fantasy sports industry has reached an unprecedented milestone. Dream11, the country’s largest fantasy sports platform, confirmed on 27 March 2026 that it has crossed 250 million registered users, making it one of the most widely adopted consumer apps in India after WhatsApp and YouTube. The announcement, timed to coincide with the opening week of IPL 2026, underlines the inseparable relationship between fantasy gaming and live cricket in the Indian market.
The platform processed over 18 million contest entries on the first day of IPL 2026 alone, a 35 per cent increase over the same fixture in 2025. Revenue per user has also climbed, driven by the introduction of micro-stakes contests starting at just Rs 5 and premium “Mega Contests” with guaranteed prize pools exceeding Rs 25 crore per match.
Market Size Projections: Rs 50,000 Crore by 2028
According to a new report by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) and KPMG India, the fantasy sports market is projected to reach Rs 50,000 crore in gross merchandise value by 2028, up from an estimated Rs 34,000 crore in FY2026. The growth is fuelled by three converging factors: deepening smartphone penetration in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the legalisation and regulation of online skill gaming in multiple states, and the explosion of live sports content across OTT platforms.
“Fantasy sports has become India’s second screen for live sport,” said Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder of Dream11. “Every boundary, every wicket, every goal matters personally to our users because they have skin in the game.” The trajectory mirrors India’s mobile gaming boom, where smartphone-first products have created billion-dollar categories in under a decade.
Competition Heats Up: My11Circle, MPL and New Entrants
While Dream11 commands an estimated 55 per cent market share, the competitive landscape is intensifying. My11Circle, backed by Games24x7, has crossed 70 million users and is aggressively targeting the south Indian market with Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language interfaces. Mobile Premier League (MPL), which briefly pivoted away from fantasy during the regulatory uncertainty of 2023, has re-entered with a football-focused product timed to the FIFA Club World Cup.
New entrants are also emerging from unexpected quarters. Reliance’s JioGames launched a fantasy cricket module in February 2026, leveraging its integration with JioStar’s live IPL streaming to offer real-time contest creation during ad breaks. Early reports suggest the JioGames fantasy module achieved 8 million downloads in its first month, a figure that took Dream11 over two years to reach at launch.
The Indian esports and competitive gaming ecosystem is also increasingly overlapping with fantasy sports, as platforms experiment with fantasy-style contests for competitive gaming tournaments.
Regulatory Landscape: GST Clarity and State-Level Frameworks
The regulatory environment for fantasy sports has stabilised considerably since the tumultuous GST debates of 2023-24. The 28 per cent GST on the full face value of contest entries, implemented in October 2023, initially dented operator margins. However, platforms have adapted by shifting to lower-entry-fee, higher-volume models that maintain user engagement while absorbing the tax burden.
At the state level, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have all passed dedicated online gaming legislation that explicitly classifies fantasy sports as games of skill, providing legal certainty that had been absent for years. Meghalaya became the latest state to regulate the sector in January 2026, introducing a licensing framework with a modest Rs 10 lakh annual fee for operators.
However, challenges persist in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where blanket bans on online gaming remain in force. Industry bodies including FIFS have filed constitutional challenges, arguing that the bans violate the fundamental right to trade under Article 19(1)(g). The Supreme Court is expected to hear these cases in the July session.
Beyond Cricket: Fantasy Football, Kabaddi and Formula 1
While cricket accounts for roughly 80 per cent of fantasy sports revenue in India, operators are actively diversifying into other sports. Fantasy football contests during the English Premier League and ISL seasons now attract over 12 million unique players, up 60 per cent year-on-year. Fantasy kabaddi has also found a niche audience, with Pro Kabaddi League updates driving seasonal spikes in user activity.
Perhaps the most surprising growth segment is Formula 1 fantasy, buoyed by Netflix’s Drive to Survive docuseries and the persistent rumours of an Indian Grand Prix returning in 2027. Dream11’s F1 module, launched in February, has already attracted 3.5 million entries, with users in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune over-indexing on participation.
Multi-sport users — those who play fantasy across three or more sports — now constitute 22 per cent of Dream11’s active user base, up from just 9 per cent in 2023. These users spend an average of 45 minutes per day on the platform, compared to 18 minutes for cricket-only users, making them highly attractive to advertisers.
Technology and Responsible Gaming
The leading platforms are investing heavily in technology to enhance the user experience and promote responsible gaming. Dream11 has deployed an AI-powered team recommendation engine that analyses over 200 data points per player — form, pitch conditions, head-to-head records, injury status — to help casual users build competitive teams. The feature has been credited with improving retention rates among first-time players by 40 per cent.
On the responsible gaming front, all FIFS member platforms now enforce monthly deposit limits, self-exclusion tools and mandatory cool-off periods after consecutive losses. Dream11’s in-app “budget tracker,” which alerts users when spending exceeds their self-set limits, has been activated by 35 million users since its launch in September 2025.
Data privacy is another area of focus. With latest AI developments in India enabling increasingly granular user profiling, fantasy platforms are investing in anonymisation techniques and on-device data processing to comply with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which comes into full effect in mid-2026.
The Road to Rs 50,000 Crore
The fantasy sports industry’s path to its Rs 50,000 crore target hinges on several factors. Continued IPL 2026 and cricket coverage growth will be the primary driver, but operators also need to crack the female user segment, which currently accounts for just 15 per cent of players. Industry initiatives such as women-only contests and ambassador partnerships with female athletes are early steps in that direction.
International expansion is another lever. Dream11 has soft-launched in the United States, targeting the Indian diaspora during IPL season, while My11Circle is testing the waters in the United Kingdom. Whether these markets can sustain engagement beyond the cricket season will determine whether Indian fantasy platforms can truly become global players.
For now, with IPL 2026 driving record contest entries and regulatory clarity improving across most states, the fantasy sports industry is enjoying what analysts call its “golden phase.” The question is no longer whether fantasy sports will become a mainstream entertainment category in India — it already is. The question is how big it can get.
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