Dream11 parent won't lay off any of its employees; ready to rebuild from the ground up: Harsh Jain

Amid the severe crisis that has emerged after the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, one of India's biggest sports-tech companies, Dream Sports, the parent company of fantasy sports giant Dream11, will not lay off any of its employees, CEO and Co-founder Harsh Jain told Fortune India. Dream Sports, which has around 500-1,000 employees, has been one of the most affected companies by the government's ban on online money games or real money games (RMG), which formed 95% of its entire business.

However, Jain, who was one of the awardees of Fortune India's coveted 2025 40Under40 list this year, said he's ready to build a "great Indian sports company" from the ground up, leveraging AI and the creator economy.

“Dream11 has always followed and will continue to follow the law — in letter and spirit. While this change in law has resulted in a loss of approximately 95% of our group’s revenue, we remain committed to building a great Indian sports company, driven by AI and the creator economy," Jain said.

He, however, agreed that rebuilding the entire business will require the collective strength of people associated with the company. "As a talent-first organisation, we will not lay off any of our employees," Jain said.

The government's ban on the $2.4 billion RMG industry has not only unsettled roughly $2 billion in venture capital investments, but it has also threatened the future of more than 5,000 employees associated with the RMG industry.

Jain-led Dream Sports is now trying to focus on the future rather than dwelling on the past.

Now left with other smaller verticals like Dream Set Go (sports travel), FanCode (ticketing and merchandise), Dream Game Studios (game development) and Dream Sports Foundation (non-profit), to do business, Dream Sports -- which posted revenue of ₹6,581 crore in FY23, and was last valued at ₹68,428 crore ($8 billion) -- is expected to see a massive drop in its revenue. However, it remains to be seen how it'll navigate the challenges posed by the government's online gaming bill.

Jain said his company remains committed to navigating through these tough times. "We are deeply grateful for the continued support of our users, partners, media and the wider ecosystem." In its first pivot after the bill, Jain-led Dream Sports has already announced its foray into the investment tech space with "Dream Money", a platform that will allow investment in gold and fixed deposits.

On being asked how Dream Sports is repositioning itself for a new phase, and whether it could grow even bigger with current business verticals, Jain said: "We will sharpen our focus on scaling our other Dream Sports portfolio companies...as part of our mission to ‘Make Sports Better’."

Dream Sports-led Dream11 is also reconsidering its ties with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about its ₹358-crore jersey sponsorship deal with India's cricketing body. The development was confirmed by BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia on Monday, saying the BCCI is discontinuing the ties in the wake of the Online Gaming Bill.

Soon after the bill on online gaming became a law following the President's assent, Dream11 announced it was winding down its real-money business, saying it had stopped all paid contests and pivoted to a free-to-play online social game. The company said the government should have approached the matter in a "progressive" way. "While we believe that progressive regulations would have been the right way forward, we will respect the law and will fully comply with...Online Gaming Law, 2025," said Dream11.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Games Bill, 2025, received the President's approval last week, paving the way for it to become a law. It incorporates several features to formalise the thriving online gaming industry in India, while seeking to put a hard stop on "online money games", ads and transfer of funds to the RMG entities.

The new bill also aims to promote e-sports and online social games, but puts an outright ban on RMG activity in India. It also proposes the formation of an authority to regulate online games, including e-sports and online social games. The government prohibits the offering of any online money gaming services and declares it an "offence".

Many experts say India's proposal to prohibit online real-money games, rather than regulate them, will harm the domestic gaming industry and undermine investor confidence in the near term. However, the government believes the rapid spread of online money games or RMGs has created serious risks for individuals, families and the nation, as they have allegedly "exploited loopholes in the law and caused deep social harm". The Centre's estimates say 45 crore people are negatively affected by online money games and have faced losses of over ₹20,000 crore.

But, some experts say a prohibition on RMG is unlikely to stop online gaming, as is the case with sports betting. There are fears the Centre's prohibition will, instead, drive players towards illegitimate and predatory offshore platforms, ultimately limiting the government's oversight and exposing Indians to greater harm. "This is what's always happened when an industry is banned. When there's a blanket ban and there's no regulation, you will always have offline channels grow faster. Muscle power, money power, all of this comes into play," Ananay Jain, Partner, Media, AVGC, E-gaming, Grant Thornton Bharat, said.