Gaming
Skill, thrills and compliance: Inside Zupee’s winning online game
MUMBAI: India’s online gaming world is having its “game on” moment and riding the leaderboard is Zupee, a platform that’s swapped chance for skill, raked in 150 million signups, clocked a jaw-dropping 12.5 billion gameplays, and finished financial year 2024 with a neat Rs 146 crore net profit. For an industry notorious for burning money faster than a turbo-charged console, Zupee’s win is as rare as a perfect game.
Pull back the curtain and you’ll meet Govind Mittal, Zupee’s chief spokesperson, who’s put his chips on integrity from day one. “Compliance isn’t an afterthought for us,” he told Indiantelevision.com’s Rohin Ramesh via email. “It’s built into the very foundation of how we operate.”
No sleight of hand here, just rigour honed across boardrooms at ITC, Rivigo, Joyy and more, plus a Chartered Accountant’s sharp eye (Mittal bagged an all-India rank of 16, first attempt, just saying). He has a record of spinning up companies like YY India, rocketing revenues from $1 million to $200 million ARR.
Backed by heavyweight investors like WestCap, Matrix Partners, and Nepean Capital, Zupee boasts a $600 million valuation and is not just surviving but thriving with profitability in its corner. With momentum on its side, Zupee is setting its sights on joining the top tier of India’s online gaming platforms, giving its rivals a serious run for their money.
But don’t mistake the platform for a digital wild west. Instead, think of Swiss bank user trust being guarded more jealous than Fabergé eggs (A jewelled egg first created by the jewellery firm ‘House of Fabergé’). Every Zupee game is skill-based, luck is for lotteries.
RNG (random number generators) are reviewed by global auditors; the firm boasts a third-party stamp from Arthur D. Little, and bots are banished. “We work closely with payment gateways to keep track of UPI IDs which have been used for fraud in the past and block payments through such IDs to ensure financial integrity of the platform,” says Mittal.
Mittal has turned responsible gaming from a regulatory box-tick into the heart and soul of Zupee’s digital playground. KYC, age-gating, daily deposit limits, self-exclusion tools and trained support are stitched into the code. Session limits and refunds are all crystal clear. “Everything from our terms and conditions to our advertising practices is designed to be transparent and user-first. Fairness isn’t just a promise – it’s something we’ve institutionalised,” he comments.
When risky behaviour emerges (say, a player’s wallet suddenly goes on a sugar rush), the system nudges, prompts, and if necessary, hits pause. “From day one we’ve built our platform with safeguards like spend limits, session reminders and self-exclusion tools that help users stay in control of their gameplay. Zupee offers users the ability to self-regulate through deposit limits and game locks and we actively monitor gameplay patterns to flag and assist users showing signs of excessive behavior,” he boasts.
In an industry where “collaboration” is usually code for “let’s not tell the regulator”, Zupee takes the opposite tack. The company is a card-carrying member of the All India Gaming Federation, actively sharing its rulebook, lobbying for a central regulatory framework, and even blowing the whistle on shady offshore operators trying to sneak in through the back door.
“We regularly engage with policy stakeholders to provide ground-level insights on gameplay behavior, tech innovation and user safety, helping ensure that emerging regulations are both practical and forward-looking,” he grins.
Mittal bristles at the idea that revenue growth and safeguarding users are at odds. Says he, “Zupee offers users the ability to self-regulate through deposit limits and game locks and we actively monitor gameplay patterns to flag and assist users showing signs of excessive behavior. In-app nudges, direct outreach from trained counselors and temporary restrictions are applied where necessary. Our systems are designed to ensure that gaming remains a form of entertainment.”
India’s gaming laws are a spaghetti of state-level tweaks. For industry players, it’s like playing snakes and ladders, mostly snakes. He concludes by saying, “A unified regulation is absolutely necessary for the orderly growth of this industry. Gaming has been a disruptive sector in more than one way and has the potential to engender technological innovation far beyond our imagination.”
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Gaming
Dream Sports sees 100 plus exits after gaming ban forces overhaul
Company splits into eight units as real money gaming law hits revenue.
MUMBAI: For a company built on fantasy leagues, reality has suddenly rewritten the rulebook. More than 100 employees have exited Dream Sports, the parent of Dream11, after the company reorganised its operations following India’s ban on real money online gaming. The shake up came after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 came into force in August 2025, prohibiting games where users deposit money expecting winnings. The regulation struck at the heart of the fantasy gaming industry and dramatically affected Dream Sports’ core business, wiping out about 95 percent of its revenue and all of its profits.
In response, the Mumbai based company shifted into what chief executive officer Harsh Jain described as “startup mode”, splitting its operations into eight independent business units in December.
Around 700 employees were reassigned across these newly formed ventures based on their experience and interests. However, roughly 15 percent opted to leave the company.
A spokesperson for Dream Sports said many of those who exited were experienced professionals accustomed to running scaled businesses rather than early stage ventures.
“Since some of these employees were experienced with running high scale businesses and not startups, around 15 percent chose to leave and join other scaled companies or start ventures of their own,” the spokesperson said.
Despite the departures, the company noted that the attrition rate is only slightly higher than its earlier level of around 10 percent before the ban. Dream Sports now has close to 950 employees and is not currently hiring, choosing instead to focus on stabilising its existing workforce.
The restructuring has transformed Dream Sports from a fantasy gaming company into a broader sports entertainment platform. The eight units now operate independently, each focusing on different segments of the sports and technology ecosystem.
These include Dream11, sports streaming platform Fancode, sports travel service DreamSetGo, mobile game Dream Cricket and artificial intelligence initiative Dream Sports AI, which includes sports analytics platform Dream Play.
Other ventures include fintech product Dream Money, open source initiative Dream Horizon and the philanthropic arm Dream Sports Foundation.
As part of cost saving efforts, Dream Sports also relocated its headquarters from Bandra Kurla Complex to Worli earlier this year. The new office, called Dream Sports Stadium, brings teams from its various brands together under one roof to improve collaboration and operational efficiency.
Jain had earlier said the company removed bonus lock in timelines for employees hired in recent years, allowing those who wished to leave to exit with pro rata payouts.
“We want people who are fully into the startup mode and willing to work for it, and we will share that reward if it comes,” he said.
Founded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, Dream Sports was last valued at 8 billion dollars after raising 840 million dollars in 2021 from investors including Falcon Edge Capital, DST Global, D1 Capital Partners, RedBird Capital Partners, Tiger Global Management, TPG and Footpath Ventures.
The new gaming law has forced several companies in the fantasy gaming sector to either shut down or pivot their business models, signalling a significant reset for one of India’s fastest growing digital entertainment industries.
