With the return of Indian Super League, football fans in India are too excited. And as the major leagues restarted, fantasy sports enthusiasts were the happiest. They were quick in getting on board with different fantasy sports apps. There has been a surge seen in the number of fantasy sports app users. Fantasy sports apps mainly gain popularity based on different aspects like contest variety, features, user interface, etc. There have been a number of fantasy sports apps available in India for the past few years now that have clearly dominated the market. Some of the popular platforms have got the biggest user base in the fantasy sports industry. Below are five fantasy gaming apps that one can download for the marvellous gaming experience at the comfort of one home:
1. Twelfth Man: Football is without a doubt the most popular sport on the planet. More than 200 countries have taken up the beautiful game over the years and its fan following is widespread. Owned by NxGn Interactive its flagship product is Fantasy Football Platform- ‘Twelfth Man’, which was launched in April 2020 with professional footballer Sunil Chhetri as its brand ambassador. Twelfth Man is the first dedicated fantasy gaming app for football. It provides a variety of contest types (DFS, League, Live/Offline Trivia, Head-to-Head DFS, and H2H League) as well as monetary and non-monetary rewards to the players. Within a year of the launch, Twelfth Man has successfully grown from a document piece to a family of 600k users. The app is currently available in a freemium mode.
2. Playing 11: Delhi-based Playing11 is a platform establishing its presence in the increasingly crowded fantasy sports market. In the initial phase, Playing11’s growth centred on two major cricket events — IPL 2019 and ICC Cricket World Cup. Playing11 has garnered 300,000 users in a year. These users played 6,000+ leagues and earned over Rs 30 lakh in prizes.
3.  Dream11:  Dream 11 is the oldest player in the fantasy sports industry founded long back in 2008. Based in Mumbai, the app struggled to gain popularity in its initial years. In 2012, they introduced freemium fantasy sports. This was initially just for the cricket enthusiasts. This concept showed a lot of interest and by 2014, the fantasy cricket app reported 1 million registered users. Dream11 is not only the country’s first and only so far gaming unicorn but also the largest player in the sector and one that made fantasy gaming mainstream in the country. It has over 80 million users and holds 1,000-plus daily contests across sports. The Dream11 app is available on Android and iOS; users can get a download link on SMS by entering their mobile number on the Dream11 website. Â
4. MyTeam11: MyTeam11 is among the recent entrants in fantasy gaming, but has made rapid strides in the last two years. It has over 12 million players, who have earned more than Rs 15 crore in winnings on the platform. Players can increase their chances of winning by scoring with their fantasy team captain and vice-captain who earn in multiples of 2X and 1.5X. Users can also participate in polls and earn bonus cash through referrals. The MyTeam11 app download link can be obtained on its website. Besides IPL, players can also create fantasy teams for Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20.
5. HalaPlay: Halaplay was originally founded in 2017. But as compared to a lot of new fantasy sports apps, Halaplay has sought huge success. HalaPlay is a daily fantasy sports app that lets users participate in quick and easy real money games. It has grown over 10X since inception and crossed four million users in 2019. It has conducted over 5,000 daily sports contests across sports leagues in cricket, football, and kabaddi. Users can win cash prizes up to Rs 10 lakh per day on the app.
