A majority of people view fantasy sports as online gaming that involves wagering, betting, and gambling, indicates a new study.
The survey by community social media platform LocalCircles found that 91 per cent of the respondents want a ban on unsolicited SMSes that promote online and fantasy games.
“While the Supreme Court has upheld its position and the position of the Punjab High Court in 2017 and ruled that fantasy sports are a game of skill, the public view continues to differ,” the report said.
In response to a question on “should online fantasy sports be considered as online gaming that involves wagering, betting and gambling”, nearly 2 out of 3 respondents chose “yes”, 14 per cent stated “no”, and the remaining 21 per cent gave no clear response.
“In effect, for 65 per cent, out of 9,507 respondents, online fantasy sports is akin to gambling, wagering or a game of chance with risks in contrast to the position of the Supreme Court,” the report said.
LocalCircles said that the nationwide survey received over 33,000 responses from citizens located in 322 districts of India while the number of responses varied from question to question.
Around 68 per cent of respondents were men while 38 per cent were women.
About 91 per cent of 11,994 respondents want the spam messages sent by the “fantasy game platforms asking them to create a team for a fee and win money with no warnings” to be banned completely.
The global digital media market has consistently been growing, with gaming accounting for the biggest share of market revenues, states J Clement in a research report published in August 2022 on Statista.com. The report states that “in 2020, the global online gaming market generated approximately 21.1 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, which translates to a record 21.9% growth compared to the previous year. This boost was, of course, due to the global COVID-19 outbreak, which forced many people to stay at home and turn to digital avenues of entertainment and find new channels to connect with others. Currently, there are an estimated 1 billion online gamers worldwide with China, South Korea, and Japan having the biggest online gaming reach among the population. In 2025, online gaming audiences are projected to surpass 1.3 billion.”
Around 54 per cent of 12,602 respondents in the LocalCircles survey said that there should be a limit on loss in the range of Rs 50-500 per game for online and fantasy gaming “if the state governments fail to ban them”.
The survey was conducted between June 1-November 15, LocalCircles said.
A KPMG report has projected that the number of India’s online gamers is expected to jump from 43.3 crore in FY21 to 65.7 crore by FY25. The revenue of the online gaming industry stood at Rs 13,600 crore to which casual gamers contributed Rs 6,020 crore in FY21.
The revenue level of the Indian online gaming industry is expected to increase to Rs 29,000 crore with casual gamers contributing Rs 16,900 crore by FY25, according to KPMG.
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