Online Fantasy Sports Platform (OFSP)

Fantasy Sports is a digital entertainment platform in which sports fans create their own fantasy sports teams. On this platform, a virtual team of real sports players is put together.

Key Points

• The so created teams contain real-time players and are widely played in cricket, football, kabaddi, basketball sports.
• The online sports fantasy gaming industry is a fast-growing sector in India. It has the potential to attract foreign investment of more than 10,000 crores over the next few years.
• It has very good potential for job creation and could generate 1.5 billion online transactions by 2023.
• Online gaming is a state subject and any regulation in this sector has to be legislated by the respective state governments.

NITI Aayog releases draft for the regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platform

• NITI Aayog released a draft paper on national level regulations of Online Fantasy sports platforms.
• The draft paper cited a report which said that the online fantasy sports industry has a capacity of attracting over Rs 10000 crore as Foreign Direct Investment in the next few years along with generating 1.5 billion online transactions by the year 2023.
• The report also claims that the number of fantasy game users in India has also increased to 90 million users in December 2019 from 2 million users in June 2016.
• The draft paper by the think tank has also cited a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers India.
• According to this report, the fantasy sports industry has the potential of generating more than 5000 direct and more than 7000 indirect jobs in the coming 2-3 years. The report also projects that the industry can generate GST revenue of Rs 3000 crore to Rs 3500 crore in the next 5 years.
• The draft paper hints at bringing a common operating standard for online fantasy sports throughout the country.
• The paper also suggests an independent redressal mechanism.
• The paper also put forwards independent legal recognition of the fantasy sports industry.

NITI Aayog

National Institution for Transforming India is the think tank of the country. It was established in the year 2015 and replaced the planning commission of India.