FIFS Releases User Guide to Fantasy Sports with Support of Meta to Promote Responsible Gaming

India: The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), India’s one and only self-regulatory industry body for Fantasy Sports (FS), today released a ‘User Guide To Fantasy Sports,’ compiled with support from global social media giant Meta.

The first-of-its-kind user guide put together by a fantasy sports federation with support from a social media platform is aimed at creating a healthy ecosystem for responsible play on fantasy sports platforms.

Sharing his perspective on the launch of the fantasy sports user guide, Anwar Shirpurwala, chief executive officer (CEO), FIFS, said, “The Fantasy sports industry is undergoing revolutionary changes, especially after the recent announcements made by the Central Government including formation of an Animation, Visual, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force, 5G rollout and others to help make India a global hub of this sector as it is currently the largest fantasy sports market in the world with 13 crore users countrywide. Thus, the 'User Guide to Fantasy Sports,' is a first step to promote awareness, bust myths, improve consumer perception and protection thereby having a positive impact on the efforts of this industry.” Anwar added, “We are thankful for the support extended by Meta to co-develop the capabilities and help revolutionise fantasy sports by building more awareness among the users to cultivate safer and healthy gaming/playing habits.” The manual is a valuable addition to the stock of reference materials specific to this sector and gives an insight into what exactly is fantasy sports, a game of skill and how it is distinct from other forms on online skill gaming, is not related to betting, gambling or wagering and has been recognised as a legitimate business activity protected under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India in multiple judgements by various courts.

The term ‘fantasy sports,’ describes a wide range of contests in which participants construct virtual teams to compete against other participants’ teams, using statistics generated by real-life athletes in team-based sporting events.

Indian Courts have held fantasy sports to be a game of skill in which participating users act as managers of their virtual teams. The results are tabulated based on statistics, scores, achievements, and results generated by the real sports persons or teams in officially sanctioned or professionally organized sporting events.

Going forward, the FIFS User Guide will serve as a practical compendium that can be referred to by various stakeholders and the general public to provide all the relevant information and different aspects about this rapidly growing sunshine industry. The User Guide will help debunk the misinformation by providing step-by-step guidelines on fantasy sports.

The User Guide will not only provide key insights into the sector to the various stakeholders but also help the fantasy sports industry create and nurture personal connections with the user community. More so, considering that Meta, as an organisation has developed numerous industry-friendly capabilities over the years and continues to push the boundaries to bring customer delight, create shared value in the social media space.

About Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) Formed in 2017, the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) is India’s first and only Fantasy Sports self-regulatory industry body established to protect consumer interest and create standardized best practices in the FS industry. FIFS aims to create a thriving ecosystem for FS users and operators by creating guidelines for a common set of practices, setting standards of operation, and creating a regulatory framework to protect the FS user and operator interests. FIFS works with key industry stakeholders and liaisons with policymakers to create a robust governance structure to support the sustained growth of the industry.