Dream Sports, the parent company of fantasy gaming giant Dream11, has assured that it will not lay off employees despite suffering a massive revenue collapse following the government’s ban on online money-based games.
The assurance came from co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain, who in an interview with Moneycontrol on Monday admitted that the company lost “95% of its revenues and 100% of its profits overnight” after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 came into effect.
Passed by Parliament earlier this month, the law criminalises the offering and financing of real-money online games. Offenders may face penalties of up to five years in prison. As a result, Dream11 — one of India’s biggest fantasy sports operators — was forced to shut down its money-based offerings.
“We are not interested in doing any layoffs. All the talent here is safe,” Jain said, stressing that the company’s strategy now is to build new monetisable products while retaining its workforce. “The only way to deal with 95% of your revenue being gone is to innovate. That will always start with talent.”
Redeployment & New Strategy
The company will redeploy nearly 500 engineers and staff across its existing verticals, including FanCode (sports content and ticketing), DreamSetGo (sports experiences and travel), Dream Game Studios (game development), and Dream Money (a fintech platform under pilot testing).
Dream11 has already informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that it will be unable to continue as Team India’s title sponsor due to the revenue shock.
At the same time, Dream Sports is betting big on artificial intelligence. Jain said the company will focus on “AI-driven disruption” across sports content, fan engagement, analytics, performance, and merchandising.
Strong Cash Reserves
Despite the losses, Jain asserted that the company has sufficient cash reserves to sustain operations and retain staff for the next couple of years. In FY23, Dream Sports reported revenues of ₹6,384.49 crore, a sharp rise from ₹3,841 crore in FY22.
Fintech Foray: Dream Money
According to PTI, Dream Sports is testing a financial services platform called Dream Money through a subsidiary “Dream Suite Platform Private Limited.” The app, published on Google Play under the entity Dreamsuite, offers services like daily gold purchase (starting from ₹10) and fixed deposits (starting from ₹1,000).
While its core real-money fantasy gaming business has been shut, Dream Sports continues to operate in sports tech, merchandise, event ticketing, and philanthropic initiatives through its non-profit wing, Dream Sports Foundation.
