Fantasy Sports Innovation Stalls Under Haryana's New Gambling Law- A Threat to India's $1 Trillion Digital Dream?

The Print

01-05-2025

While gambling results in a uniform distribution, with an equal probability of winning or losing, skill-based activities typically have a higher probability of winning, leading to a left-skewed distribution. In simple terms, the mathematical way to distinguish skill-based activities from gambling is that a skilled player is more likely to achieve a higher payoff than a gambler. The reason gambling is banned in many countries, including India, is due to its association with issues such as addiction, financial losses, fraud, and the loss of life and livelihood. By similar logic, online gaming and trading are allowed in many countries because they facilitate price discovery based on skills of market participants. Markets are created with opportunities to do business.
New Delhi [India], May 1 (ANI): The Haryana Prevention of Public Gambling Act (HPPGA), 2025 has introduced a new wave of uncertainty in India's fast-evolving digital economy and its most immediate casualty may well be innovation. While the legislation rightly aims to curb illegal gambling and safeguard public interest, its silence on skill-based online formats like fantasy sports gaming and its innovative formats has sparked concern across the tech ecosystem.
Startups, investors, and policy researchers alike warn that this ambiguity, particularly in a tech-forward state like Haryana, could stall innovation, force relocation of companies, and undermine India's broader digital ambition of building a $1 trillion digital economy by 2027.
The Policy Gap
Fantasy sports gaming and its innovative formats, now used by over 220 million Indians, have transformed from casual gaming apps into complex data-driven ecosystems. These platforms have been repeatedly recognised by Indian courts, including the Supreme Court, as games of skill distinct and categorized as a legitimate business activity protected under Article 19(1) g of the Indian Constitution. That legal clarity at the national level, however, is not reflected in Haryana's new law.
The Prevention of Public Gambling Act, 2025 criminalises games of chance but exempts games of skill. Yet, it stops short of explicitly acknowledging fantasy sports gaming and its innovative formats, within the skill-based category. This legal grey area, industry leaders say, is now discouraging innovation in what is arguably one of India's most dynamic digital sectors.
Innovation Under Threat
At the heart of this disruption lies a fundamental misunderstanding: fantasy sports and its innovative formats today are no longer just about picking a dream Cricket team. They are evolved into a complex, predictive, and real-time engagement experience that combines sports analytics, behavioural data, and financial modelling. Formats like player stocks, where users apply predictive thinking to specific game-related or performance-based outcomes, represent the cutting edge of this evolution.
Player Stocks, for instance, is a format born in India- a unique fusion of market logic, data interpretation, and sporting knowledge. It allows users to assess real-time probabilities and express views on micro-moments within a match, such as 'Will Abhishek score 50+ runs?' or 'Will Varun take a wicket in the next over?' Rather than chance, the outcomes in these formats depend on the user's skill in interpreting data, understanding context, and acting strategically.
By not recognising such innovation within the safe bounds of skill-based gaming, HPPGA is inadvertently stifling a growing category of data-backed digital products that could otherwise cement India's position as a global leader in gamified fintech and real-time entertainment.
Economic and Employment Fallout:
This regulatory uncertainty is not just a theoretical concern, it has immediate operational consequences. Several leading fantasy and opinion trading platforms, many headquartered in Gurugram, are already exploring relocation to states like Maharashtra, Karnataka or Uttar Pradesh, which offer more progressive and clearer regulatory environments.
Such a move would threaten:
* Thousands of direct and indirect jobs across tech, legal, marketing, and content teams
* R&D centres and innovation labs that have invested in scaling newer formats in fantasy sports gaming
* Tax revenue: fantasy platforms contributed nearly 1% of India's GST collections last year
* Investor confidence, particularly after the recent GST overhaul in 2023, which had already dampened sentiment
It would also affect the broader digital ecosystem, from payment infrastructure and user identity systems to influencer networks and live sports content production, that depends on fantasy gaming for growth and monetisation.
Precedent and National Impact:
The situation in Haryana is a deja vu moment for the gaming industry. In the past, states like Tamil Nadu attempted blanket bans on fantasy sports gaming, only to face legal challenges that overturned the restrictions. But during those periods of uncertainty, the damage was already done: startups paused investments, froze hiring, and redirected resources out of the affected regions.
In a digitally interconnected economy, such regulatory instability does not stay local. It sends a chilling signal across boardrooms and investor circles especially in a post-pandemic world where companies are re-evaluating the cost of doing business in unpredictable policy environments.
As one policy researcher noted, 'When regulation lacks clarity or appears reactionary, businesses, especially in emerging sectors, respond by becoming cautious. Investors view such developments as risk signals.'
A Case for Calibrated Policy:
It is important to recognise that policy clarity need not come at the cost of oversight. On the contrary, a co-regulatory framework with government supervision, industry participation, and consumer safeguards can ensure that innovation continues responsibly.
By officially recognising fantasy sports gaming and its innovative formats as games of skill, Haryana has the opportunity to:
* Cement its place as a tech policy pioneer
* Retain and attract high-value digital jobs
* Foster a globally competitive gaming and fintech ecosystem
* Contribute meaningfully to India's $1 trillion digital economy target
Conclusion- Haryana's Moment of Choice:
The conversation around fantasy sports gaming regulation in Haryana is not just about defining what constitutes a game of skill. It is about deciding whether India's innovation economy will be nurtured or stifled at the state level.
Fantasy sports gaming and its innovative formats sit at the convergence of multiple forces like mobile-first behaviour, real-time analytics, gamification, and financial literacy. Ignoring this innovation would be a setback not just for the state, but for India's digital future.
As India's youth seek out new-age digital careers, and as global investors eye Indian tech as the next frontier, states like Haryana must make bold, forward-looking choices. Supporting innovation with clarity and confidence is no longer optional, it's the strategy that will determine who leads in tomorrow's digital economy.
Disclaimer: Nilanjan Banik is Professor of Economics and Finance at the School of Management at Mahindra University, Hyderabad. The views expressed in this article are his own. (ANI)
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