Dream11 has stopped all paid contests (Images via X)
Fantasy sports giant Dream11 on Friday announced that it has discontinued all paid contests on its platform and will now operate solely as a free-to-play online social game, in the backdrop of The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. In a statement released late on Friday, the company said, “This morning, we stopped all paid contests on Dream11 and pivoted entirely to a free-to-play online social game.”
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The new law, which received President Droupadi Murmu’s assent earlier in the day, prohibits all forms of money-based online gaming while providing recognition and support for e-sports and online social games. The legislation carries stringent penalties for companies that fail to comply, including imprisonment of up to three years and fines of up to ₹1 crore. Dream11, founded 18 years ago, said its journey was driven by the vision to improve sports engagement in India. “When we started this journey 18 years ago as a Sports Tech company, we were not even 1% of the size of the USA Fantasy Sports industry. Dream11’s Fantasy Sports product was our way to ‘Make Sports Better’ for all of India,” the company said, adding that it had since grown into the world’s largest fantasy sports platform.
Statement by Dream11 on X (Screengrab)
The company underlined that it has always conducted business in compliance with the law. “While we believe that progressive regulations would have been the right way forward, we will respect the law and will fully comply with ‘The Promotion & Regulation of Online Gaming Law, 2025’,” the statement read. Officials said the government will notify the effective date of the legislation in due course, while rules under the bill are being drafted.
“As the bill is structured, even without rules, there are certain provisions that can come into force immediately. But that is a decision we will take,” MeitY Secretary S Krishnan told ANI.
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Dream11 highlighted that it continues to operate several other sports-tech ventures under its parent group, including FanCode, DreamSetGo and Dream Game Studios. “These will continue to power our vision to ‘Make Sports Better’ and support our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s ambition of making India a global sporting superpower,” the company said. Signing off, the platform thanked users for their support and added: “See you in our second innings.”
