Aussie DFSoperation launches in Indian market

Australian daily fantasy sports provider PlayUp has made its first major move since acquiring the DraftStars brand from CrownBet in April this year (see previous report), launching an Indian DFS site branded DraftStars.in and offering real-money action to Indian DFS fans.

In a press release just a week on from the Indian launch, PlayUp says that interest has been high, with over 2,300 new registrations on DraftStars.in, which is operated by Delhi-based Fantasy Studio India.

“PlayUp Ltd, the parent company to Draftstars, has long held a strong Indian audience, where it was the fourth-ranked sport-related website in October 2018. India is renowned for its enthusiastic sporting population, something that has been reflected in the rapid growth of fantasy sports in the country,” the PlayUp press release advises.

“A recent report commissioned by the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG) demonstrated the exploding popularity of skill-based betting in the country. India currently has more than 20 million fantasy sports users, a number expected to grow to 100 million users by 2020. The report also showed that 89 percent of users play fantasy sports at least once a month.”

DraftStars.in currently offers domestic and international cricket competitions and football, but by year’s end plans to add basketball and kabaddi. The company is working on the integration of PlayUp’s cryptocurrency PlayChip in both its Australian and Indian operations.

Operations manager for India, Venkatesh Iyengar commented, “The Indian market is the fastest-growing fantasy sports market in the world. Given PlayUp’s strong reputation and brand in the country it was a natural decision to introduce another of our most popular pay-to-play fantasy sport platforms, Draftstars.”

Rivals for DraftStars in the Indian market include Dream11, Leagueadda, Fanfight, BalleBaazi and Starpick.