Is Fantasy Sports Legal in India? 2025 Law Explained

The short answer

Paid fantasy contests: prohibited. Under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, games where you pay or stake money hoping to win money are "online money games", and they are banned whether they are games of skill, chance or both.
Free-to-play fantasy: not covered by that ban. Games with no entry fee or stake count as online social games, which the Act permits.
Status: the Act and the Rules made under it have been in force since 1 May 2026. Challenges to the Act are pending before the Supreme Court.

How we got here

Date	What happened
20–21 August 2025	Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025: the Lok Sabha on 20 August and the Rajya Sabha on 21 August.
22 August 2025	The President gave assent and the Bill became the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025.
August 2025	Dream11, India's largest fantasy platform, paused all pay-to-play contests and moved to a free-to-play model.
September 2025	The Supreme Court transferred the challenges filed in the Delhi, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh High Courts to itself.
22 April 2026	The government notified the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026.
1 May 2026	The Act and the Rules came into force, with an Online Gaming Authority of India to administer them.

What the Act covers

The Act divides online games into three groups:

Online money games. Games where a user pays fees, deposits money or other stakes expecting to win money or other enrichment. These are prohibited, along with offering them, advertising them and processing payments for them. Before the Act, paid fantasy sports were defended in court as games of skill; the Act's ban applies regardless of skill.
E-sports. Competitive, skill-based multiplayer games recognised under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 and registered with the Authority. These are permitted.
Online social games. Recreational games without a money stake. These are permitted.

What it means for fantasy players

Paid contests are gone. Entering a contest with real money to win real money is no longer allowed in India. Ads for such games are also prohibited.
Free fantasy games continue. Fantasy apps that switched to free-to-play, and free games such as Fantasy Premier League, have no money stake. Some award prizes funded by sponsors; whether a particular product qualifies is a question for its operator and, ultimately, the regulator.
Beware of offshore or unofficial apps. The Act also covers money games offered to people in India from outside the country. An app still taking deposits for fantasy contests is offering exactly what the Act prohibits.
The skill is the same. Reading a pitch, picking a captain and balancing a team work exactly as before. The guides on this site apply to any fantasy game, paid or free.

What is still open

Gaming companies and industry groups have challenged the Act, arguing among other things that it breaches the right to carry on a trade and that it ignores long-standing court rulings that fantasy sports are games of skill. The Supreme Court is hearing these challenges together. Until it rules, the Act stands. We will update this page when there is a decision.

Frequently asked questions

Is Dream11 banned in India?

Dream11 stopped its paid contests in August 2025 and now runs as a free-to-play game. Paid fantasy contests, on any app, are what the law prohibits.

Is free fantasy cricket legal?

Free-to-play fantasy games without a money stake are online social games, which the Act permits.

When did the ban start?

The Act became law on 22 August 2025. It came into force, together with the Online Gaming Rules, 2026, on 1 May 2026. Most large fantasy platforms had already stopped paid contests in August 2025.

Are fantasy sports still a game of skill?

Courts held before 2025 that fantasy sports are mainly games of skill. The 2025 Act bans online money games whether they involve skill or chance, so that question no longer decides whether a paid contest is allowed.

Is fantasy sports legal in India?