‘Fantasy sports can hardly be called addictive': Joy Bhattacharjya

Joy Bhattacharjya, talked about the fantasy sports industry, the reasons for its ever-growing popularity and why it does not carry a danger of being addictive.

Fantasy sports have seen exponential growth in the last few years globally as well as in India. Cricket, the most popular sport in the country, has naturally played a big role in driving more and more people to fantasy gaming. Hindustan Times caught up with Joy Bhattacharjya, director general, the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), who talked about the growth projection of the industry, the reasons for its ever-growing popularity and why it does not carry the danger of being addictive.

File photo of Joy Bhattacharjya

Excerpts…

How has the growth of fantasy games been in the last few years in India? Can you throw some light on the investments for fantasy games and their market size currently and future estimations?

We are easily the fastest-growing fantasy sports market in the world. In fact, FIFS has just launched the 2023 FIFS-Deloitte report on the Fantasy Sports industry and it confirms this. Our revenues have grown three times since FY20 and we have a user base of over 18 crore adult players, which is three times the number of users in the entire North America. The fantasy sports industry has reached revenues of ₹6,800 crore in FY22 and we are hoping to grow at 30 per cent CAGR and go over ₹25k crore in FY27. The industry is driving substantial economic growth and innovation in India, in terms of tax contributions, attracting foreign and domestic investments, spurring associated industries, and providing highly-skilled employment for thousands of young Indians.

The Foreign and domestic funding for FSPs is ₹15,000 crore until FY 22, the Deloitte report expects FDI to grow to ₹25,000 crore by FY25, and the current industry valuation is at INR 75,000 crore by FY22. Fantasy sports also created employment for 12,500 people across the economy in FY22, with around 5,000 direct jobs and 7,500 indirect jobs by FY22. The same is expected to rise up to 7,000 direct jobs and 10,500 indirect jobs by FY27.

Another vital factor in this growth story is the impact made by the industry on the sporting ecosystem in the country. FSPs have contributed approximately ₹3,100 crore in FY22 to real-world sports through sponsorships and partnerships, and it is expected to grow to ₹6,500 crore by FY27.

What are the possible reasons behind this growth?

Over the past couple of decades, many things have changed which have resulted in the growing success of fantasy sports.

The biggest factor is the increase in digitisation in the country. Smartphones are now available for less than ₹5k and penetration has reached even C and D category locations. Thanks to this, India now has 660 million smartphone users with 692 million active internet users. This is a key factor in the creation of a viable market for fantasy sports in the country.

Another important factor has been the increase in digital payments. As per the Deloitte-FIFS report, UPI transactions now add up to a value equal to 55 per cent of India’s GDP and the proliferation of UPI has led to 110 million paid online gamers in India. This is the second-highest number of users for any segment after e-commerce. In fact, we could argue that fantasy sports have also contributed significantly to the growth of digital payments in India.

Moreover, the growth of league-styled sports in India since the inception of the Indian Premier League has been another major factor in the rise of Fantasy Sports. Sports beyond men's cricket have gained widespread traction with ICC Women's World Cup 2022 seeing a 47 per cent increase in viewership over the 2020 T20 Women's World Cup.

Similarly, Kabaddi became the 2nd most-viewed sport in 2019 and Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 saw a total of 222 million viewers in 2022.

With homegrown fantasy sports platforms which are accessible in regional languages, the FS has also managed to penetrate the tier-2 and tier-3 cities and in doing so, the fantasy sports are bridging social barriers.

Has IPL been a big factor in drawing people to fantasy sports?

The bigger the event, the more interest there is around it as everyone wants to earn bragging rights among their social circles for creating the best fantasy teams. Therefore, just as IPL increases the interest in playing fantasy sports contests among users, similarly it increases the excitement level among passive IPL viewers and turns them into active participants due to the higher level of involvement needed in playing fantasy sports. This directly leads to more eyeballs and increased minutes of viewership which in turn leads to exponentially higher sponsorship and advertising revenues.

This is also the reason that nowadays, any sports league worth its salt always has a fantasy sports partner. This is true of all major sports leagues such as IPL, Major League, NBA, etc. because the league owners realize that fantasy sports have now become a key tool for increasing viewer engagement.

What are your thoughts on the new rules in the IPL? Especially the Impact Player?

The Impact Player is a very interesting rule. I still feel all the teams do not understand the concept quite well. It is fascinating because it makes life much more difficult for fantasy sports operators as well as fantasy sports users and complicates matters a lot more.

Though, I feel these changes are good because they add another element to the whole array of fantasy sports. Trying to predict who the Impact Player is and picking the team accordingly adds an exciting element, thus adding excitement for the viewers and the users alike.

How has the rule of XIs being announced after the toss affected fantasy games?

Obviously, it makes life much tougher for fantasy sports users because the teams can literally decide their playing XI after the toss. A captain can play their best bowling unit or their best batting unit depending on the result of the toss. It means any fantasy sports user has to factor this detail in their mind, and their window of being able to choose their playing XI also gets reduced.

There is a reason why fantasy sports has been deemed as Games of skill by courts - as a person with more knowledge about the sport always has a better chance of winning more contests. The new IPL rule further tests the skills of users as it forces them to think on their feet while also keeping factors like probabilities of a coin flip in their minds when selecting their playing XI.

At the same time, the new rules are also making things challenging for fantasy sports operators as they now have to develop servers which are expected to get jammed in the final 25-30 minutes when everything will break loose. With users also following the toss and creating teams at the last moment the surge in demand for gaming infrastructure is tremendous. Thus, it also increases the potential for developing new technology and opens doors for new inventions in the genre of fantasy sports in the next few years. Adding a little bit to the sport adds to the game and the excitement on all fronts.

There are concerns regarding the addictiveness of fantasy sports apps. What are the steps taken by FIFS to minimize the risk?

If you see fantasy sports, you will realize that they are not available on demand, therefore there is very little scope for repeated usage. A fantasy sports game is available to the consumer only when a tournament or league is approved by an authority, board or association from that sport. For example, right now we are providing you the IPL, which is approved by BCCI and each national cricket board in turn, approves the participation of their players. The game really comes alive at 7 pm when teams are declared and users have 30 minutes to select their teams. After that, they can come back to the game to check their status on the leaderboard, follow the actual scores and the performance of chosen players. However, there is no option of starting another game. In fact, 70% of users say they watch new sports and learn about new players and leagues.

Apart from this, 80% of users in India play for free. The balance 20% have an average spend of ₹50 per game entry. 80% of users have a frequency of playing just once a week or even less frequently. These figures show a healthy engagement with the activities available and can hardly be called addictive. In fact, a vast majority of users cite entertainment, social bonding, competitiveness and analysis of the real world game as reasons for playing fantasy sports.

Nevertheless, at FIFS, we want to remain cautious and our members have responsible play policies which keep the user informed about his usage pattern so that he can enjoy it safely. Also, as a federation, we will be proactively engaging with MeitY and the SRB, which is to be formed under the IT Rules, with a view to ensuring guidelines on safe and responsible gaming are followed.