Cricket is the most loved sport in India, and with the cricketing season already underway with the IPL 2023 ongoing, millions of fans are trying out their knowledge and skill of the game on Dream11, one of the most popular fantasy gaming app.

The company was founded back in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth and added cricket as fantasy sports in 2012. Since then, millions of users have played fantasy cricket on the platform.

There have also been many controversies around the company claiming them to be gambling and betting website, but the Honourable Supreme Court has already ruled fantasy sports as ‘Games of Skill’. A game of skill is a game where significant use of ones’ knowledge is required to win.

Despite that, some states have banned the app or made some harsh policies that prohibit Dream11 from operating. People interested in finding out can have a look at previous G2G coverage and verify if Dream11 is banned in their state or not.

The general idea in a fantasy games is that a player makes a team based on their knowledge of the game and players to outplay the teams made by other players. Currently, Dream11 provides two type of leagues – Small Leagues and Grand Leagues. Here’s what players can expect starting out in Dream11.

Small Leagues

As the name suggests, Small Leagues are tournaments with less than 25 players and have a variety of game modes. These leagues include contests with considerably less amount of players on the platform, wherein different ranks are awarded in ascending order, meaning that the highest rank wins the most money.

Most of the players in small league prefer these H2H and winner takes all matches as there is less competition, and it generally does not require that much time to create and manage a single team. These tournaments also work out as an additional source of income and can provide a maximum of 2x or 3x the investment.

Entry fees on these tournaments varies with the total number of people in participation or prize pool, but these small league matches can serve as a great starting point for new users who want to get their feet wet and get a bit of experience before moving on to the major leagues.

Grand Leagues

Moving on to the Grand Leagues, these are the tournaments from where everyone keeps hearing news of people winning crores. The grand leagues consist anywhere between thousands to lakhs of players aiming for the top prize, reaching crores every game.

These leagues usually have an entry fees of Rs 49 or more and allow people to have multiple teams in a single match. The competition is tough, unlike the Small League tournaments the number of player differ by a huge margin making it harder to compete for the first position.

Tournaments matches in Grand League are high risk, high reward matches where most of the players only get back what they invested most of the time. These league matches are advised for people with much more experience and knowledge of the game.

Head-To-Head contests

While grand leagues and small leagues give the users a hope to win big and change their fortunes forever, head-to-head contests are the best suitable for them who tend to averse taking big risks. In fact, these contests also reduce the probability of losing money, but at the same time, increase the chances of ending at winner’s position.

As the name suggests, head-to-head contests consist only of upto two (sometimes three) players, who battle it out with their individual teams in an attempt to win it all. For example, by entering the contest with as low as Rs 59, a contest of two has winnings of Rs 100, wherein Rs 118 are pooled by Dream11 with Rs 18 as its platform fee, and then distribute the rest to the player whose team ends up with maximum points.

Thus, it may be concluded to say that head-to-head contests are best for those who want to play the game with the least amount of risk and earn relatively higher returns on the amount that they invest while still being able to enjoy the action in fantasy sports.

Changes in Tax rates for online games

The latest tax rates for online games by the finance ministry are out and in effect and the current Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) is 30%. This means that players do need to keep in mind that their winnings will be taxed at 30% of the amount they withdraw. For example, if a player wins Rs 1 crore from a tournament, they will have to pay 30% tax (Rs 30 lakh).

This also applies even if players are only doing a partial withdrawal like a withdrawal of Rs 10,000 from the winnings will also be taxed at flat 30 percent (Rs 3,000). Any amount of withdrawal is tax similarly due to the removal of withdraw threshold which was previously at Rs10,000.

This threshold was removed as people were avoiding payment of taxes by making multiple withdrawals lower than the taxable amount. One thing to note is that the company has also released a new UPI app called DreamX for easier withdrawal and usage of the winnings by players.

The app was released just before the IPL season to help people to get easier access to their winnings. Currently, the app is limited to Dream11 users and is automatically linked to their account. Using this app, player can transfer money to other people, bank accounts and even do payments.