A study by Redseer Consulting has estimated that the gross gaming revenue from fantasy sports during the ongoing IPL season could reach up to Rs 2,900-3,100 crore, growing at 30-35 per cent over 2022.

The number of transacting users during the 2023 IPL season is expected to be around 68 million, a 25-30 per cent growth over the last season. Around 80 per cent of the users are expected from the smaller cities.

In 2022, the gross gaming revenue was Rs 2,260 crore and the number of transacting users was at an estimated 55 million.

“Steep growth in fantasy sports gaming will come from tier 2 cities driven by increasing adoption of fantasy platforms and cross migration of users from other games. Increased internet accessibility will give a push to the IPL economy. Our estimates suggest that the average revenue per user is expected to grow from Rs 410 in IPL 2022 to Rs 440 in IPL 2023,” said Ujjwal Chaudhry, partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants.

A combination of factors such as the rising number of real money gaming platforms, increasing marketing spend by these firms and regulatory clarity are among the growth drivers.

“Awareness about fantasy gaming platforms is rapidly rising with more and more platforms offering easy access to the game type. Many new and upcoming platforms such as Cricpe, Gamezy and Howzatt are trying to improve their presence in the market which will also bring more users,” the report said.

According to the report, Google has allowed fantasy platforms to be available on Google Play Store under a pilot programme. This will further increase the number of transacting users during the IPL 2023. Most platforms have also increased their marketing efforts before the IPL season in order to acquire and convert more users on the platform.

Redseer Strategy Consultants director Saurav Chachan said: “There has been an increase in efforts to make platforms more secure and reliable. Measures such as RNG (random number generator) certification and secure payment gateways increase the user trust in these platforms.”

In December, the Centre had notified amendments to the Allocation of Business Rules whereby the IT ministry was selected as the nodal ministry for online gaming, while the sports department under the ministry of youth affairs and sports was made the nodal ministry for e-sports events.