According to co-CEO and co-founder Trivikraman Thampy, Games24x7’s products, particularly fantasy sports, are anticipated to propel the business’s expansion in 2025 as it increases its investments in artificial intelligence and technology.
Trivikraman Thampy, co-founder and co-CEO of Games24x7, claims that the company is better equipped to handle the new tax regime than it was the year before, more than fifteen months after the Center levied a 28 percent goods and service tax (GST) on online gaming.
His optimism stems from Games24x7’s real-money gaming (RMG) products, which have grown astronomically, especially in the area of fantasy sports.
“Compared to last year, we are unquestionably in a better position. For the sector as a whole, not just for us, the new system has been difficult. Although 2024 has been a fantastic year, it has not been without its challenges. However, we’ve gained a lot of knowledge about how to run our company under this extremely high tax environment, and we’re optimistic that 2025 willwill be a year of meaningful growth for us,”
Along with Dream11 and Mobile Premier League (MPL), Games24x7 is one of the county’s three gaming unicorns, or businesses valued at more over $1 billion, having been founded in 2006 by Thampy and Bhavin Pandya. There are currently more than 120 million players using the service.
RummyCircle (Online Rummy), My11Circle (Fantasy Sports), and PokerCircle (online poker) are among the skill-based real money gaming platforms run by Games24x7.
RMG to propel expansion
Even though RMG is facing a significant tax burden, Thampy predicts that fantasy sports will be its main growth engine in 2025. After outbidding rival Dream11 to obtain the rights, My11Circle was named the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) official partner in February of last year. Over a five-year span, the company spent up to Rs 125 crore every year.
“Fantasy sports have been a significant growth engine for us. We obtained the IPL sponsorship rights for the ensuing five years last year. Making the IPL (2025) a huge success is currently the only goal of practically every employee in the organization, except from those who are only involved with RummyCircle, Thampy stated.
According to My11Circle, during IPL 2024, revenues and the number of teams created on the site grew by more than 60% year.
According to Thampy, Games24x7 is also creating “new user experiences” and product innovations for the real money gaming market that need to be made available this year.
The company has fared better in the RMG market than the industry at large, which has been severely impacted by the consequences of a stricter tax code. This is particularly true when it comes to fantasy sports.