Rise of Fantasy Sports

Cricket would surely be the most popular dish in Indiaif the country were a restaurant and we, the people of India, were its frequent customers. Various fantasy sports platforms like Dream 11 add the right amount of spice to this sumptuous delicacy. It is popularly believed that fantasy sports platforms like Dream 11 are the torchbearers of the craze of fantasy sports in India, but it can also be seen that the introduction of fantasy sports in India dates back to the year 2001, when ESPN super selector was launched. ESPN Super Selector was co-created by ESPN and Joy Bhattacharyya. The game was all about forming a team of 11 players with a limited budget. In the game, contestants could score points based on the on-field performances of their selected players. During the ICC Cricket World Cup of 2003, the popularity of this game skyrocketed, and the number of participants rose to over 500,000. This extraordinary and phenomenal gain in popularity of the game lured some media giants, such as the BBC and Sky Television, into launching their own fantasy sports platform for the audience.

Fantasy sports platforms have gone through a phenomenal revolution over the next 18 years. In 2003, from half a million contestants to 20 million participants in 2019, fantasy sports touched a landmark. According to the published report by the Indian Federation of Sports and Gaming (IFSG), there are more than 60 companies working in this esports field. Including this, approx. 30 companies came into this business in the last two years. Looking at and studying this popular fantasy sports platform is as easy as ABC. Anyone can access this online platform through their smart phones or personal computers through their corresponding websites and applications. In the following game, you will be provided with a list of all the players that will take part in the upcoming tournament. Even the following fantasy games contain a lot of attributes, like statistics about the following players, the salary cap, and selecting various parameters, along with the following numbers of foreign players in a single team. This type of virtual sports platform consists of various players from both teams in a real-world match. The contestants score points depending on the corresponding player’s on-field performance and not on a particular team’s performance.

There is a high chance that some of the players might perform at their peak and some might not. So, it is a win-win situation for all the contestants. This money-spinning situation leads to increased fan engagement, which in turn leads to more profits for the organisers, broadcasters, and fantasy sports providers. The Indian Federation of Sports and Gaming claims that the projected user base of fantasy sports in India is set to reach more than 200 million by 2024. However, the milestone will still be reached by only 30 percent of online fantasy sports fans in India. The following indicates that there is scope for further improvement in the future. We can see that over the last couple of years, fantasy sports have not been limited to the field of cricket only. This fantasy sports platform has gained huge popularity in the Indian Super League and Pro Kabaddi League as well. But still, cricket holds the lion’s share, with Dream 11 owning 90 percent of the gaming market share. With the rise of online transactions and non-refundable income, fantasy gaming is going to achieve new heights among the audience in the future. E-sports fans are digging deeper into statistics, and this will have countless implications in moulding the next generation of sports fans in India. But let us remember the following proverb: “All that glitters is not gold”, which means this fantasy gaming has its own fair share of demerits as well. For this eSports virtual gaming market, smartphone users are the target audiences.

Among this target audience, teenagers and young children are the main audience. This 50 percent of the targeted audience is likely to have a heavy smartphone addiction. Also, this virtual platform bears the risk of keeping the younger, upcoming generation glued to their smartphones. This growing obsession is so dangerous as it poses a serious threat to the young generation’s career and their personal and social lives. Moreover, these online platforms raise security concerns. This online gaming platform is vulnerable to various cybercriminals who are always on the never-ending hunt for breaching security and hacking into personal computers and smartphones. Their main motive is to steal personal and financial information from the users. During this cybercrime hunt, younger people mostly fall into the trap. These malicious activities should be kept in check by implementing proper guidelines for regulating security and maintaining the truthfulness of this virtual esports platform. A robust security protocol should be introduced to keep this platform free from all criminal activities. Proper steps in the right direction will be crucial in shaping the future of fantasy sports in India.