Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports' director-general Joy Bhattacharjya unravels the legal challenges, status quo and growth prospects of the industry
Fantasy sports bear a simple proposition. Can’t bend it like (Jasprit) Bumrah? Flex your grey matter to play virtually instead, and stand a chance to earn along the way. What라이브 바카라 not to like? Quite a lot, per several sections of the Indian society. (More Sports News)
While concerns around possible onset of addiction persist, the real-money gaming industry has also been facing legal challenges by way of on-off bans and regulatory issues in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The central bone of contention remains the ‘skill vs chance’ debate: whether it should be classified as a game of skill, which is legal in the country, or a game of chance which is largely prohibited under the Public Gambling Act of 1867.
A number of key stakeholders in this debate, led by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) — the industry라이브 바카라 self-regulatory body — have been trying to propagate the skill-based aspect of fantasy sport, but misconceptions still linger.
Why has the needle not moved decisively yet? “As an industry, we have not done enough to build more awareness around fantasy sports,” FIFS director-general Joy Bhattacharjya tells 바카라 in an exclusive interview. Having been a part of India라이브 바카라 fantasy gaming journey right from the beginning with ESPN-Star라이브 바카라 ‘Super Selector’ in 2001, Bhattacharjya knows what he라이브 바카라 talking about.
For people to understand why fantasy gaming hinges on skill, they need to be slightly more “mathematics-literate”, believes the expert. He adds, “Better teams will win more on the long term – that라이브 바카라 the truth of it. We have had studies from United States universities in India that say, over a period of time, people who are skilled at it will win more. ‘Gameathon’ is just one more way of showing that.”
Bhattacharjya is referring to FIFS’ sports-artificial intelligence challenge for students from the country라이브 바카라 premier technical institutions. The first edition of Gameathon invited students to build predictive models for fantasy teams in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy. The upcoming second edition will focus on the cash-rich Indian Premier League.
The cricket analyst goes on to explain how, in his view, playing a fantasy sport is not very different from investing in the stock market. “Suppose you have a company which manufactures grilles. You do not know anything about that company; you cannot know the market conditions of a 100 companies. But you have an understanding of their books, their balance sheet and you know how the company is doing. Basis that, you can make informed decisions.
“So my point is that making informed decisions is what is critical. We are going state by state to explain this bit. One of the large parts of this success will come from the Gameathon as well, when they see that bright students are figuring out ways to make this better. Why are some students winning more than the others? They are winning because this is a game of skill. And that라이브 바카라 what we want to show,” he posits.
Does he expect opinions to shift in the next 2-3 years? “It라이브 바카라 very difficult for me to theorize that. At our end, what we are doing is putting data and information in front of people and saying, ‘It라이브 바카라 not just us. Look at these reports, look at these people playing the Gameathon and tell us, in what way is this different from anything else like a stock market?,” he says.
The former Kolkata Knight Riders team director feels the average sport lover is more accepting of fantasy gaming today than in the past, but there are aberrations because “everyone has an agenda”. He is alluding to the proliferation of illegal betting sites in India.
“One of the agendas is that if I show fantasy sport is just like any other skill-based game, it really suits organizations who are seeking to put money on betting abroad. We have had countless representations with the government, the cyber crime department. The single biggest problem is not perception in India; it is that lots of people are putting money into betting apps.
“The money is being sucked out abroad. It is in their interest to tarnish our image and to show that we are not a game of skill,” Bhattacharjya elaborates.
Solving this problem requires “cooperation and understanding”, he says, adding: “Cyber crime is very flexible; they can start a new site and change it overnight. They are very nimble."
The overall consumer interest seems to indicate that cricket will continue to rule the roost, when it comes to fantasy sport as well. But Bhattacharjya believes other sports will make larger inroads in the future. “It (interest in fantasy gaming for other sports) will increase slowly, it has to.
“Cricket will take the lion라이브 바카라 share, as that라이브 바카라 a reflection of what cricket is as a sport in our country. But there라이브 바카라 a substantial number of people who play the (English) Premier League, and another sizeable number who have started playing the Indian Super League. The hardcore fan will aid growth. All you need is enough people interested for that game to prosper.”
Given India라이브 바카라 1.4 billion-plus population, even a relatively small chunk of the pie could be a big enough one, relatively speaking. Bhattacharjya puts it in context with the findings of November 2024라이브 바카라 Google-Deloitte survey.
“It says 492 million people follow cricket in the country. That라이브 바카라 a serious number. But (it also states that) 119 million follow kabaddi, 85 million follow football, 57 million follow badminton and 40 million follow volleyball. The 40-million figure rivals the population of Canada, and is larger than the population of Australia. So even if you have smaller numbers than cricket, these are very substantial numbers worldwide.”