Inside Dream Sports’ plan to rebuild after the gaming ban
India’s online real-money gaming ban wiped out Dream11’s profit engine. Next week, the company relaunches as a free-to-play sports app. The State of Play has exclusive details of its plans.
On August 20, the day before Parliament passed the bill that would ban real-money gaming (RMG), Dream Sports co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain called a town hall at the company’s headquarters in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. He told his 1,307 employees that Dream11 would wind down its RMG operations. The mood, people present recall, was sombre. Ninety-five percent of the company’s revenue would disappear.
Jain made a promise: no layoffs. He also told the room that Dream Sports would not challenge the law in court, unlike several competitors preparing to do so.
While rivals started cutting staff, Dream11 held on to its workforce.
The company had two advantages: it had been profitable, recording Rs 188 crore in FY23, the last year before GST changes cut margins, and it had deep pockets. The more than $1 billion it had raised to compete in RMG would now fund its pivot.
Three months later, its plans are taking shape. The company is preparing to relaunch Dream11, introduce products for people who have never used the app, and enter financial services and amateur sports technology.
