Dream Sports restructuring leads to exit of more than 100 employees

Dream Sports, the parent company of fantasy sports platform Dream11, has seen more than 100 employees exit the company following a major restructuring triggered by India’s ban on real-money online gaming.

The workforce changes come after the company reorganised its operations into a network of smaller business units as it attempts to adapt to the new regulatory environment that disrupted its core business model.

According to Moneycontrol, the restructuring followed the August 2025 ban on real-money gaming, which effectively dismantled the economic foundation of many fantasy sports platforms.

Business overhaul after gaming ban

Dream Sports said the regulation wiped out around 95% of the company’s revenue and all of its profits, forcing the firm to redesign its operations.

In response, the company split its organisation into eight independent startup-style units, each with its own leadership team.

At the time of the restructuring, Dream Sports chief executive Harsh Jain said a significant portion of the company’s workforce had been redistributed across these new ventures.

The company placed around 700 employees into the newly created units, aligning staff with business areas that matched their experience.

However, about 15% of those employees chose to leave, either joining established technology companies or launching their own ventures.

“Our current attrition is only slightly higher than the roughly 10% we saw before the ban,” a Dream Sports spokesperson said.

Leaner workforce for Dream11

The restructuring has also sharply reduced staffing needs for the company’s flagship platform.

Jain previously said Dream11 now requires fewer than 200 employees in its restructured form as a sports entertainment platform rather than a fantasy gaming operator.

The company said some corporate teams, including parts of the talent acquisition function, were unable to transition into the new startup structure.

Despite the departures, Dream Sports said the organisation still employs around 950 people and is currently prioritising retention rather than new hiring.

“We are obviously not hiring and are focused on retaining our talent,” the company said.

New startup-style structure

The eight business units created under the restructuring span a range of sports technology and digital services initiatives.

These include Dream11, sports content platform FanCode, sports experiences platform DreamSetGo, cricket game Dream Cricket, and artificial intelligence initiative Dream Sports AI.

Other ventures include Dream Money, a wealth management platform integrated with India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce; Dream Horizon, an AI software solutions unit; and the Dream Sports Foundation, the group’s philanthropic arm.

The Economic Times previously reported that the company had reorganised its operations to operate more like a collection of startups, giving individual teams greater autonomy.

Industry-wide disruption

The restructuring reflects broader turmoil in India’s real-money gaming sector after the government introduced new legislation banning online money games where players deposit funds in expectation of winnings.

Industry estimates suggest the regulation effectively disrupted India’s $3.5 billion real-money gaming industry, triggering widespread layoffs.

Reuters has reported that several companies across the sector have announced workforce reductions as revenue streams collapsed.

Companies including Gameskraft, Mobile Premier League, Zupee, Games24x7 and Junglee Games have also reduced staff in response to the new rules.

A shift back to startup mode

Dream Sports itself had been preparing for a different future before the regulatory change.

Earlier in 2025, the company completed a “reverse flip” relocation of its domicile from Delaware to India, a move often interpreted as preparation for a potential initial public offering.

However, the gaming ban forced the company to pivot its strategy.

Jain said the company removed bonus lock-in periods for employees who joined in recent years, allowing them to leave with pro-rated payouts if they chose not to remain in the new structure.

“We want people who are fully into the startup mode and willing to work for it,” he said at the time.

Future uncertain for gaming platforms

Founded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, Dream Sports was last valued at $8 billion after raising $840 million from investors including Falcon Edge, DST Global and Tiger Global in 2021.

For the financial year FY25, the company reported revenue of ₹6,759 crore, down from ₹7,934 crore a year earlier, and a net loss of ₹479 crore, partly driven by a one-time tax charge linked to its corporate restructuring.

With the real-money gaming model curtailed, Dream Sports is now attempting to rebuild its business around sports content, technology and digital entertainment.

Whether the company’s new startup-style structure can offset the loss of its core gaming revenues will depend largely on how quickly these new ventures scale in the evolving sports technology market.

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