Fantasy Sports Gaining Popularity in India
India is a massive country with an even bigger concentration of sports fans. Cricket is easily the number one on the list of the most popular sports, but football also has a huge place in the hearts of Indian fans. A decade ago, most fans could only watch the games on TV and enjoy the thrill, but fantasy sports now offer a whole new dimension to the sports fans’ experience.
It comes as little surprise that India accepted fantasy sports apps with open arms, considering the huge number of sports fans. Not only are sports fans in India numerous, but they have also always been very vocal and opinionated.
Fantasy sports give fans a voice, and a chance to prove that their opinions and predictions matter. By playing fantasy sports leagues and comparing with other fans, they now have a chance to show who knows the most about cricket, football, and other sports.
A New Industry on a Massive Rise
Fantasy sports are often mixed with gambling, namely sports betting. However, fantasy sports are treated as a skill game in most of the world, including India. As such, players around the country are allowed to legally participate in fantasy leagues.
Fantasy sports are relatively new to India, but the industry has been booming over the last several years. In 2019, the industry saw gross revenue of just over USD 130 million. In 2020, the number went up to USD 340 million, which is a massive rise that happened in just a single year.
Over the last 10 years, the number of fantasy sports players in India has gone up 25 times, while dozens of new fantasy sports platforms India have entered the market. This has created many opportunities for the players, but it seems that the growth has only just begun, with experts predicting the Indian fantasy sports market to be worth USD 3.7 billion by 2024.
With such a fast growth curve, countless operators from all over the world are looking to enter the Indian market over the next several years. As new apps are made available and new gameplay options are introduced, millions of Indians are expected to join the fantasy sports trend and compete with their peers in their favorite sports.
Cricket Leading the Way Forward
As one would expect, cricket has been the number one fantasy sport in India over the past decade, with tens of millions of users registering to platforms to play fantasy cricket exclusively. The top ranked platforms also offer other popular sports such as football, baseball, hockey, and kabaddi among others, but cricket takes up over 80% of the market share.
At this time, the top five platforms hold over 90% of all user accounts in India, but this is likely to change as new major operators enter the market and offer their outstanding platforms to the local population. The market is expected to grow exponentially every year for some time to come, with experts predicting tens of millions of new users to sign up for their first fantasy account by 2025. It is also important to note that India has banned a great number of competing Chinese apps, which will open even more room for local Indian fantasy sports operators in the years to come.
