X: @vivekbhavsar
Mumbai: Dream11, India’s largest fantasy gaming platform, is today at the heart of a massive regulatory blind spot. Despite handling transactions worth thousands of crores every year, the Reserve Bank of India has formally admitted that the company is not authorised under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act (PSS Act), 2007. More worryingly, the RBI has stated it has no records of complaints, audits, inspections, or compliance reports regarding the platform. This startling admission has come not through whispers or anonymous sources, but through official replies under the Right to Information Act (RTI), culminating in a first appeal order delivered by the RBI’s own Appellate Authority on September 15, 2025.
The RTI trail began with a straightforward question. Was Dream11, operated by Sporta Technologies Pvt. Ltd., authorised by RBI as a Payment System Operator (PSO) under the PSS Act? The answer from the RBI’s Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) was unambiguous: No. Dream11 is not an authorised PSO. Alongside, RBI furnished a list of companies that do hold PSO authorisation, and Dream11 was nowhere on that list.
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The RTI went further, asking whether RBI had ever received complaints about Dream11, or conducted inspections, audits, or regulatory reviews of its operations as a financial intermediary. Again, the answer was stark: No records exist. The CPIO made it clear that RBI does not regulate Dream11 and therefore holds no information about its compliance or misconduct.
Unsatisfied with these incomplete answers, an appeal was filed before the RBI’s Department of Payment and Settlement Systems. The appeal argued that public interest was directly involved, given that Dream11 handles vast sums of money deposited by millions of Indian users. The appeal highlighted that under Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, information must be provided in an intelligible form, and that such opacity around Dream11 was against the principles of transparency.
The Appellate Authority’s ruling, however, doubled down on the CPIO’s stance. It cited precedents of the Central Information Commission, pointing out that an authority is only required to provide information already available on record. The Appellate Authority noted that since Dream11 is not authorised by RBI as a PSO under the PSS Act, its operations do not fall under RBI’s regulatory purview. Therefore, questions about audits, inspections, or compliance checks do not arise. The authority even cited a 2009 CIC judgment which held that a CPIO cannot be compelled to create or collate information not present in official records. On this basis, the RBI dismissed the appeal.
This dismissal is not just a procedural outcome; it is a window into a yawning regulatory gap. India’s fantasy gaming and online betting ecosystem is booming, with Dream11 as its flagship. The company is valued at billions, has roped in Bollywood actors and cricketers as brand ambassadors, and commands a user base running into tens of millions. Every IPL season, the platform processes massive volumes of deposits and payouts. Yet, when it comes to financial oversight, RBI has washed its hands of the matter. By the regulator’s own admission, Dream11 is outside its jurisdiction.
This situation raises a fundamental question: if not RBI, then who regulates the financial backbone of platforms like Dream11? The Ministry of Corporate Affairs can only monitor corporate filings and compliance under company law. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) deals with digital platforms and intermediaries, but not the nuances of payment regulation. State governments have powers under gambling and betting laws, but fantasy sports operators argue they are games of skill, not gambling. In this jurisdictional maze, Dream11 has effectively slipped into a grey zone — one where thousands of crores of rupees change hands annually without a clear financial regulator watching.
The public interest stakes are enormous. Every rupee deposited by a user on Dream11 goes into bank accounts and is processed through payment gateways. Every payout similarly moves through India’s financial system. If such massive transaction flows do not come under the scrutiny of the RBI, then what safeguards exist to ensure transparency, prevent money laundering, or protect consumers from fraud? The RTI documents now confirm that there are none. This is not just a gap; it is a regulatory vacuum.
Defenders of the platform may argue that Dream11 operates within the legal framework of online fantasy sports, which courts have often declared to be games of skill. But legality of the game is a separate matter from regulation of the money flowing through it. Even a legitimate activity that processes such large financial volumes must fall under financial regulatory oversight. The fact that RBI has no jurisdiction here means that India’s most trusted financial regulator is blind to a parallel economy of crores.
The timing of this revelation also matters. India’s fintech sector has seen massive growth, but it has also attracted growing scrutiny for compliance failures, from loan apps to payment wallets. The RBI has in recent years cracked down on banks, NBFCs, and fintechs alike. Yet, one of the country’s largest online platforms by transaction volume remains completely outside its regulatory net. This contradiction is glaring.
The News21’s investigation into this matter shows that it is not just Dream11 but potentially several other fantasy gaming and online betting-style platforms that exist in this regulatory limbo. If RBI does not regulate them, and no other agency steps in, then India has a sector handling crores of rupees daily with zero financial accountability. For ordinary users, this means that if money is blocked, lost, or misused, there is no clear regulator to approach. For the state, it means that revenue leakages, fraud risks, and systemic threats go unmonitored.
The watchdog role of investigative journalism becomes critical here. Through persistent RTI applications, the truth has come out: RBI has no records on Dream11’s compliance, no authorisation granted, no oversight in place. The larger question now is whether policymakers will wake up. Will the Finance Ministry and the Industries Ministry step in to clarify jurisdiction? Will MeitY expand its role? Or will Parliament legislate a new regulatory framework for fantasy gaming and online sports platforms?
Until such steps are taken, India’s citizens must know that when they deposit money on Dream11, they are entering a regulatory no-man’s land. Their money may be processed through banks and wallets, but the overarching financial regulator — the RBI — has already said it has no oversight. In a nation where trust in the financial system is sacrosanct, this blind spot is dangerous.
Dream11 thrives, celebrities endorse it, crores keep flowing, and regulators keep passing the buck. But the paper trail of RTIs now shows that the emperor has no clothes. A multi-billion rupee industry has no regulator. That is the real scandal.
TheNews21 will continue to pursue this story in public interest, exposing how systemic loopholes are exploited while accountability is evaded. In matters where thousands of crores of rupees and millions of ordinary users are at stake, silence is not an option. The watchdogs are watching, and the truth is now on record.
