Online fantasy gaming startup earns almost five times Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings

• Dream11 reported an operational revenue of ₹2,070 crore in FY20, compared to ₹356.5 crore reported by Chennai Super Kings.
• Dream11 allows gamers to create a team of real players for an upcoming match and compete with other fans for cash rewards.
• Assam, Odisha, Telangana, Nagaland, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh have banned real-money games.

Even as the government of India is running after the country’s fantasy gaming segment to bring it under stricter regulations, Dream11 has crossed the revenue of many cricket teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The fantasy gaming company Dream11, which allows gamers to create a team of real players for an upcoming match and compete with other fans for cash rewards, recorded an operational revenue of ₹2,070 crore in the financial year 2020 that ended in March last year.

The Mumbai-based gaming firm is also looking to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States (US).

This is over five times bigger than Chennai Super Kings’ revenue of ₹356.53 crore of FY2020. Chennai Super Kings has won three IPL trophies in the last 13 years, and has been a first runner-up five times. It also stands at the first position in the ongoing IPL 2021 series.

The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led cricket team reported a revenue of ₹253.69 crore in the financial year 2021. Dream11’s financial statement for FY21 is not yet publicly available.

Dream11 claims to have crossed 110 million users in the last one year. The company also achieved over 5.3 million user concurrency in October 2020 during IPL 2020.

What does Dream11 do?

If India and Pakistan cricket teams are set to compete, users will select their preferred team of real players. The gamer will earn points based on the players’ performance in the real-life match. The prize includes cash rewards.

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While the cricketers are competing on the field, the gamer just has to estimate which players are more likely to score in the sporting event. Not just cricket, Dream11 also offers football, basketball, hockey, kabbadi and more.

Dream11 was founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth about 13 years ago. The company claims to have over 100 million users registered on its platform, even though the Dream11 app is not present on Google Play store due to the app store’s policies that prohibit real-money games.

States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are considering a ban on real money gaming, saying that it’s a digital form of betting. Assam, Odisha, Telangana, Nagaland, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh have also banned the industry altogether. However, the Supreme Court has decided in favour of the fantasy gaming industry, calling them skill gaming instead of gambling.



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