Online fantasy sports have been instrumental in revolutionizing sports," believes Kiren Rijiju

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju heaped praise on online fantasy sports as a medium to fuel sports consumption. The minister spoke in FICCI's TURF 2020's virtual conference. He said these fantasy sports have brought the fans closer to their favorite games.

The 10th Global Sports Summit TURF 2020, organized by FICCI, was India's first virtual sports and fitness exhibition. The summit hosted world-class athletes, federations, and top leaders. It also conducted the Indian Sports award to honor the prime athletes in India.

It was wonderful speaking about our focus on welfare of Indian sports at @ficci_india 'TURF 2020' International Conference on Business of Sports & Fitness and India's First Virtual - Global Sports & Fitness Exhibition. pic.twitter.com/u2rhsyzGEL

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 8, 2020

"Fantasy sports contributing to the growth of sports in India"

Rijiju shared how online fantasy sports have played a vital role in aiding sports consumption by linking fans with their favorite sports.

"I see how fantasy sports is fuelling sports consumption. It is very important. Online fantasy sports is instrumental in revolutionising the manner in which sports enthusiasts engage with their respective favourite sports,"

The Indian fantasy sports market has shown enormous growth over the years. Online fantasy sports platforms paid GST to the tune of ₹445 crores in FY 2020, up from ₹166 crores in FY 2019. Cricket has been the top-rated sport understandably. But these fantasy applications have also contributed to sports like football, kabaddi, baseball, volleyball, and basketball.

Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder of Dream 11 & Dream Sports, discussed how OFS platforms have engaged fans, contributing immensely to the Indian economy as well.

“India is a pretty big market with a billion sports fans, and so we cannot be a one-sport nation. The problem is that sports as an industry is built as top-down, meaning, it is all about mass and scale. We want to build it bottoms-up, and so, we want to focus on other sports that have pockets of users, and in India, even pockets can be lakhs of people.

He further elaborated on how these online fantasy sports apps work with innovation and knowledge, which the users have to keep in mind, based upon real-life sporting matches.

“Fantasy Sports changes the way you consume sports -- you don’t just follow the top team or the team you like; you follow everyone to see the value picks, research, knowledge, chemistry for every player, and sports consumption goes through the roof. It’s based on the actual sports match, and on real-life events and it’s not available 24x7.”

Sports fans use their knowledge and consider matches, status availability, teams, and players combo to create a successful fantasy team and earn real-time prizes through the online fantasy sports platforms. That's why fantasy gaming has grown in leaps and bounds today.