Dream11 is no longer a fantasy sports company. India’s largest fantasy platform, with over 250 million users, has exited real-money gaming entirely and pivoted to an AI-first sports engagement platform.
The shift was not voluntary. India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, passed in August 2025, banned all real-money gaming effective October 1, 2025. Dream11 shut down paid contests the same day.
“The entire industry was caught off guard. It was a complete shock.”
Harsh Jain, Dream Sports CEO, 2026
The ban wiped out 95% of Dream11’s revenue overnight. The company swung from a ₹1,295.3 crore profit in FY24 to a ₹478.9 crore loss in FY25. Revenue fell from ₹8,345.9 crore to ₹7,374.4 crore, and the decline accelerated once paid contests stopped entirely.
“The only way to deal with 95 percent of your revenue being gone is to build new products that you can monetise in the future.”
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View this post on Instagramg>Harsh Jain, Dream Sports CEO, Sportzpower
What Dream11 Is Building Now
Dream11 now operates as a second-screen watch-along platform. Users join creator-hosted rooms during live matches, interact through chat, polls, and prediction games, all free. The app launched with 25 paid creators including AB Cricinfo and Pahul Walia. It is live in 11 countries including India, the US, the UK, and Australia.
The revenue model has changed completely. Fantasy contests generated money from entry fees. The new platform relies on advertising, brand collaborations, and planned premium features. A virtual currency called DreamBucks is in development. Dream11 is targeting a $10 billion global revenue opportunity.
“Sports is crazy emotion. You want to scream, shout, abuse players, celebrate, and share it. Gen Z wants raw, unfiltered, real conversations. That’s what we’re building.”
Harsh Jain, Dream Sports CEO, Storyboard18
The company has 500 engineers allocated to AI-driven personalization. Cricket fans see cricket feeds. Football fans see football. The platform adapts to individual behaviour rather than showing a generic sports homepage.
What Dream11 Is Building Now
Dream11 now operates as a second-screen watch-along platform. Users join creator-hosted rooms during live matches, interact through chat, polls, and prediction games, all free. The app launched with 25 paid creators including AB Cricinfo and Pahul Walia. It is live in 11 countries including India, the US, the UK, and Australia.
The revenue model has changed completely. Fantasy contests generated money from entry fees. The new platform relies on advertising, brand collaborations, and planned premium features. A virtual currency called DreamBucks is in development. Dream11 is targeting a $10 billion global revenue opportunity.
“Sports is crazy emotion. You want to scream, shout, abuse players, celebrate, and share it. Gen Z wants raw, unfiltered, real conversations. That’s what we’re building.”
Harsh Jain, Dream Sports CEO, Storyboard18
The company has 500 engineers allocated to AI-driven personalization. Cricket fans see cricket feeds. Football fans see football. The platform adapts to individual behaviour rather than showing a generic sports homepage.
What It Means for Cricket’s Money
Dream11’s exit ended its ₹358 crore BCCI jersey sponsorship. Fantasy platforms had contributed roughly 40% of IPL broadcast advertising revenue and spent approximately ₹4,500 crore annually on sports marketing. BCCI replaced Dream11 with Apollo Tyres and Google Gemini.
The pivot is a survival move built on real assets: 250 million users, a recognized brand, capital, and 500 engineers. Harsh Jain is not treating this as a setback.
“We already have more than a Series B company has. We have capital, we have the people, we have the user base, we have a brand.”
Harsh Jain, Dream Sports CEO, Sportzpower
Fantasy made every ball personal because money was at stake. Dream11’s challenge now is making every ball personal without it.
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