A month after New Delhi Post first lifted the lid on Dream11’s murky financial underbelly, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, said the country’s biggest fantasy gaming platform functioned like a digital wallet moving crores of rupees every day — without any authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007.
The admission is damning. In a written RTI response, RBI stated that Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd, Dream11’s parent company, “is not authorised/approved as a Payment System Operator under the PSS Act, 2007.” Even more astonishing was the disclosure that the central bank has never once conducted an inspection, audit, or issued an advisory on Dream11’s financial operations.
This silence created a regulatory blind spot where crores of user funds circulated daily — outside banking safeguards, outside consumer protection, and outside accountability.
New Delhi Post’s First Exposé
The RTI confirmation follows New Delhi Post’s July investigation, “Dream11 – Devil of Fraud: Inside a Billion-Dollar Money Laundering Empire,” which revealed how the company routed money abroad through shell firms and channelled it back into India disguised as foreign investment. The report showed Dream11 was not merely a fantasy sports app but a labyrinth of offshore structures, dummy directors and opaque money trails.
The fresh RTI disclosures now place the central bank itself under the scanner — not just for ignoring Dream11’s financial jugglery, but for failing in its statutory duty to regulate payment systems.
A Wallet in Disguise
To millions of users, Dream11 looked like a simple fantasy gaming app. In reality, its operations mirrored a prepaid wallet.
- Users deposited entry fees into a common account.
- Dream11 deducted its platform commission.
- The remainder was redistributed as winnings to a fraction of players.
This loop — deposits in, deductions made, payouts distributed — is precisely the pattern the PSS Act was designed to regulate. Under RBI’s rules for Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs), such platforms must obtain licences, maintain escrow accounts, and undergo regular audits.
Yet Dream11 ran its financial engine without licences, without audits, without oversight. The only difference? It labelled the activity “fantasy gaming,” not “payments.”
RTI Trail: RBI’s Abdication
The most troubling aspect of the RTI revelations, filed by a website www.thenews21.com is not just the absence of authorisation, but the evasiveness of RBI’s response.
When asked whether it had received complaints about Dream11’s fund-handling practices, RBI deflected, pointing to a generic webpage of authorised entities. It did not confirm or deny complaints. It did not acknowledge whether Dream11 was ever on its radar.
This studied silence effectively shielded a politically connected unicorn from scrutiny. Dream11, handling large cash flows, escaped untouched.
Clout Behind the Startup
Dream11’s insulation was not accidental. The platform was co-founded by Harsh Jain — son of Reliance confidant Anand Jain — and Bhavit Sheth, an IIT Bombay and Columbia University alumnus.
It drew global investors like Tencent, Tiger Global and Sequoia, and became a marketing juggernaut through endorsements from India’s biggest cricketers.
As a unicorn, it was celebrated. As a sponsor of cricket tournaments, it became mainstream. In political circles, it became untouchable. Few regulators dared probe a household brand backed by foreign capital and star power.
Risks to Users: Money Without Safety Nets
For Dream11’s 200 million registered users, the risks were severe. Deposits in wallets like Paytm are protected via escrow accounts, redressal mechanisms and RBI intervention. If something goes wrong, the regulator can penalise or revoke licences.
Dream11 offered no such safeguards. User funds existed in a regulatory vacuum — no inspections, no escrow, no insurance. If entry fees or winnings were misused, users had no recourse.
New Delhi Post’s July exposé had already flagged Dream11’s opaque structures as a national security concern, citing Chinese investor Tencent’s role and the use of offshore shells. The RTI disclosures now confirm RBI’s abdication.
Parliament Steps In
It was not the RBI but Parliament that acted. On 21 August 2025, the government passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 — a sweeping law that bans all real-money gaming.
Key provisions include:
- Blanket prohibition of online cash-based games.
- Jail terms of up to three years and fines up to ₹1 crore.
- Liability for promoters, advertisers and influencers.
- Creation of a National Online Gaming Commission to oversee permitted activities like e-sports.
The government cited addiction, suicides, tax evasion and money laundering. But the deeper truth is this: lawmakers acted because the RBI failed to.
Why Did RBI Stay Silent?
The PSS Act clearly defines a payment system as one enabling fund transfers between parties. By that definition, Dream11’s pooling-and-distribution model fell squarely under RBI’s jurisdiction.
So why the silence? Was it fear of confronting a politically connected unicorn? Reluctance to intervene in a “game of skill”? Or sheer regulatory capture — lobbying power ensuring inaction?
Whatever the reason, the RTI disclosures prove the central bank — custodian of India’s payment systems — looked away.
A Pattern of Blindness
Dream11’s case reflects a wider malaise. When startups intersect with political clout, foreign capital and mass consumer reach, regulators hesitate. Rules binding smaller players are bent or ignored for giants.
For years, Dream11 thrived in this grey zone: a celebrated unicorn escaping every financial safeguard. New Delhi Post’s reporting dragged it into the light. The RTI trail has now confirmed the scale of abdication.
The Reckoning
Dream11 will remain a case study in scale, marketing and India’s startup boom. But thanks to the RTI revelations — and the investigative spotlight first cast by New Delhi Post — it will also stand as a case study in regulatory failure.
Parliament’s new law may have ended its business model, but the deeper question concerns RBI’s silence. In that silence, crores moved daily, unregulated and unprotected, while India’s central bank claimed it had “no information.”
That silence is no longer defensible. With RTI disclosures now public, the debate is no longer only about Dream11’s conduct — but about RBI’s credibility as guardian of India’s financial system.
