Quick Summary:
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Fantasy sports app market is projected to hit $34.23 billion in 2025 at an 11% CAGR, driven by global engagement and mobile penetration
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Developing a fantasy sports app involves conceptualization, UI/UX design, robust backend development, iterative testing, and streamlined app store releases
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Revenue streams include in-app advertising, premium features, entry fees, affiliate marketing, and strategic sponsorships to boost user engagement and profitability
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Fantasy sports apps must adhere to country-specific regulations, implement KYC verification, and enforce robust security measures to safeguard sensitive user data
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Design apps to handle peak loads with scalable architectures, cloud migration readiness, and rigorous scenario testing for uninterrupted, lag-free user experiences
Introduction:
Sports is the single most effective medium that brings people together across the globe. Be it cricket, hockey, football, baseball, basketball, kabaddi or more, each of the sports with its respective tournaments and leagues leads to a proliferation of viewership and engagement from passionate and opinionated spectators in respective parts of the world. This has made fantasy sports the single most effective platform to transform the passive spectators to active team managers who can leverage their strategic opinions to lead their virtual teams to victory and win rewards for the same.
The demand for fantasy sports app development is on the rise in 2025 with the market valuation expected to reach $34.23 billion ↗, growing at a CAGR of 11% as per a report by the Business Research Company. Being a technology-driven sector with a plethora of options available to users, the success of fantasy sports app solutions depends on how well they can engage their target users and simplify their journey to create virtual teams and win.
So, what are the key considerations while developing a fantasy sports app, what features are popular among users, how to cater to compliance measures across the globe, and how to monetize your fantasy sports app while maximizing engagement and retention? Read this in-depth guide that we have curated from our experience as India’s No 1 fantasy sports app development company ↗ to find out.
The Time is Ripe for Fantasy Sports Software Development
First and foremost, it is important to learn about the benefits of investing in fantasy sports software development to identify areas of value creation with your fantasy sports app and understand the ecosystem that has fuelled the meteoric rise of this industry.
Lucrative Market
The Fantasy Sports Gaming Association in 2022 mentioned that in the USA and Canada alone, there were 63 million active users on fantasy sports platforms with the numbers increasing every day. According to the Zion Market Research Report↗, the global fantasy sports market is estimated to reach USD 102.37 billion by 2032. In India alone, there were 13 crore registered fantasy sports users as of 2022. With the increasing number of users flocking to fantasy sports platforms, proliferation of gaming leagues throughout the year, stable and accessible internet infrastructure, and digital-first lifestyles of users, there is ample opportunity to create value with fantasy sports app development by creating platforms tailored to the needs of each user base, including their gaming expertise, language preferences, gaming preferences, and more.
Revenue Generation
As fantasy sports app developers responsible for creating some of the leading fantasy sports apps such as Boomer 11, American Dream 11, DPL 11, and more, while catering to diverse fantasy sports use cases across industries, we have seen the stable revenue stream generated by well-targeted fantasy sports apps first hand. Be it businesses’ core revenue stream or an exploration of an additional one to capitalize on the global popularity of sports, the proven testimony of fantasy sports ROI maximization, our clients have seen significant returns with solutions aligning cutting-edge technology with their business needs to offer users top-notch fantasy gaming experiences.
Classification and Accessibility Of Fantasy Sports
Fantasy sports are categorized as games of skill by major sports nations across the world as opposed to games of chance. The accessibility of fantasy sports solutions is further fuelled by enhanced digital penetration, smartphone ownership, affordable mobile data (particularly in India as compared to other parts of the world), and mature technology infrastructure to cater to evolving user needs. These prerequisites for antasy sports app development, including established user demand, familiarity with the model, and willingness to spend on these platforms are readily available and strongly established.
Flexible Investment and Development Ease
With the growing popularity of fantasy sports among users, entrepreneurs have the option of investing in custom fantasy sports app development or white-label fantasy sports solutions development depending on their needs. The former enables businesses to develop a solution completely tailor-made for them from scratch, while the latter enables quick market entry and risk-free testing of initial waters with a 14-day launch period and minimal investment. Additionally, with fantasy sports AP, businesses can get readily available game data from diverse and credible sources without having to aggregate it from scratch, further simplifying and accelerating development.
The Fantasy Sports App Development Process: How To Develop A Fantasy Sports App in 2025?
Mentioned below is the end-to-end process for custom fantasy sports app development.
Step 1: Initial Conceptualization
As a fantasy sports development company prioritizing alignment of technology to meet client’s business goals, we undertake in-depth market research and competitor analysis to understand your target market, identify competitor gaps, and define your unique selling proposition, following which a feature list and development roadmap is created in alignment with your vision.
Step 2: UI/UX Design and Backend Development
Our fantasy sports app development services cater to the unique design requirements of each business from scratch. At this stage, we understand your specific design, style, component, and colour preferences to deliver top-notch designs that instantly connect with your users. Additionally, if you have a preferred app design or want to implement specific ideas from widely popular fantasy sports apps like Dream 11, our UI/UX experts cater to these requirements to deliver an app in alignment with your vision, designed to meet the goals of your target users. At this stage, backend development from scratch begins parallelly, ensuring robust system foundation for flawless functionality.
Step 3: Development
Our custom fantasy sports app development caters to clients’ specific technical preferences and deliver fantasy sports solutions in programming languages and databases of their choice, with complete custom source code delivery to each business. Our fantasy sports app developers are tech and platform versatile, adept in all latest technologies, ensuring seamless development and deployment across all platforms. Once we receive the confirmation on the technical aspect from our clients, we proceed to add specific models and functionality as per your choice, including custom coupon implementation, e-commerce implementation, or development of a predictor module to empower your users with enhanced decision-making capabilities.
Step 4: Admin Panel and Application Development
At this stage, our experts develop the Admin Panel to empower clients to seamlessly manage their fantasy sports platforms, ensuring they have complete access to all necessary datapoints in one place, including user registration details, end-to-end user activity tracking, state restriction, KYC details, referral and transaction details among others. In alignment with client preferences indicated in the stages above, application development happens parallelly at this stage.
Step 5: Sprint Demos
As part of our fantasy sports software development, we present the demo of each model, including the fantasy sports API every two weeks. At this stage, the complete source code is also transferred to the clients and in case they want to host the application in their server, our experts manage that seamlessly too. Transparency at every stage is important to us and we ensure proactive communication to keep out clients updated regarding progress made and continuously seek their feedback for further improvement.
Step 6: Testing and Quality Analysis
Our fantasy sports developer experts conduct end-to-end testing to ensure complete accuracy of your code. We have over ten years of experience developing fantasy sports apps, which gives us prior knowledge of all possible test cases and scenarios to conduct laser-sharp scenario testing to assess the application’s performance in all likely instances, identify, and nullify any glitches there may be before launch. Our manual testers are experts in assessing the nuances of fantasy sports apps, including lineups, point calculation, referral bonus calculation, and more, ensuring complete accuracy.
Step 7: App Store and Play Store Release
At this stage, your fantasy sports solution is ready for launch. Our experts help you navigate all formalities of App Store and Play Store release, ensuring a seamless launch process for your solutions to be deployed to your target environments in adherence with country-specific regulations.
Important Considerations For Fantasy Sports App Development in 2025
In 2025, it is not just enough to put together a set of standard fantasy features without any consideration of the tech stack or the unique requirements of your user base. It is also important to understand that fantasy sports app solutions do not exist in a vacuum. The following are important considerations for fantasy sports app development in 2025, curated from our extensive experience in delivering the world’s leading fantasy sports apps.
Lag Free Performance In Peak Load Periods
Imagine building and scaling a fantasy sports platform to 50k-1 lakh users only to have it crash during a peak load period (an example of which would be Virat Kohli hitting the winning runs in India’s recent historic ODI win against Pakistan), when all users engage with the platform concurrently. To avoid this, it is important to design the application for scale from the ground up to ensure the fantasy sports application performance is not compromised even during these critical match hours (of which there will be many in the upcoming IPL season).
Application Readiness For Migration To Cloud
Your fantasy sports software should be able to scale as your user base expands and offer them seamless, secure performances without any downtime. For this, migrating to the cloud is important, for which your application readiness is crucial. Important constituents of application and data and application readiness include cloud compatibility of third-party API integrations, latency optimization for real-time gaming updates, monolithic to microservices architecture breakdown, data backups and efficient data migration strategy.
Country-Specific Regulations
Fantasy sports game development needs entrepreneurs to cater to country-specific regulations, compliance, and licensing requirements. In India, for example, businesses need to plan around the 28% GST ↗ levied on the full-face value of bets placed in online games and plan their offerings in such a way that users can absorb the impact of the high tax slab. In UAE, the use of real money is prohibited for fantasy sports platforms. Likewise, fantasy sports businesses have to comply with gaming laws in respective parts of the world and keep up with evolving regulations.
Platform Security and Data Privacy
A fantasy sports platform involves real money transactions, users’ personal data, including payment details, identity information, and so on. This means that any lapse in security would compromise the credibility of the platform, interfere with users’ gaming experiences, and result in significant revenue losses for the fantasy sports business. As such, businesses have to prioritize platform security from the outset, rather than as an afterthought and incorporate robust security measures ↗ such as, user authentication, KYC verification, and so on.
Features Of A Fantasy Sports App: What’s Trending in 2025?
In 2025, every feature of a fantasy sports application must elevate user experience and make it easier for them to select players for their virtual teams and win. On the client side, Admin features should give them complete control to manage their fantasy sports businesses seamlessly.
| COMMON FEATURES | ADVANCED FEATURES | ADMIN PANEL FEATURES |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile and Social Login | Instant Withdrawal | User Authentication |
| Referral System | Wall Feed | Instant ID Verification |
| Automated KYC | User vs User Comparison | Bank Verification |
| Real-time Fantasy Games | Quizzes | Withdrawal Requests |
| Multiple Fantasy Game Contests | Multiple Sports | User Created Games |
| Payment Gateway Integration | Predictions | Swapping Teams |
| Player Analytics | E-Commerce | Default Fantasy Games |
| Live Scores | Engaging Push Notifications | Substitution System |
| In-app Chat Features | Gamification | Admin Dashboard |
| Join Multiple Fantasy Games | Rewards & Bonuses | Creating Multiple Teams |
Monetization Strategies For Your Fantasy Sports Platform
Fantasy sports app development is a lucrative business opportunity with the right monetization strategies in place. Discussed below are some of the ways in which you can monetize your fantasy sports platform and establish a stable revenue source from this business.
In-app Advertising
As a fantasy sports app development company, we have seen hoe effective well-targeted in-app advertising can be. You can leverage AI-powered insights from your users’ daily, or season-long engagement metrics and deliver ads tailored to their preferences for greater engagement and effectiveness.
Premium Features
As fantasy sports app developers ↗ responsible for delivering engaging user experiences, we have in-depth expertise in designing premium features which users willingly pay for. Today’s users want more than just an aggregation of match points for better decision-making. They are looking for resources which can empower them strategically to predict which team is most likely to win and why. In such a scenario, premium features like customizable reports, predictive analytics, and real-time updates of player rankings can elevate the gaming experience to the next level and give value to users.
Entry Fees
This is the amount users pay to participate in particular leagues or contests. Popular game tournaments like the IPL, World Cup, ODI, and more see a proliferation of user registrations and drive substantial revenue for the fantasy sports platform via the entry fees. However, it is important to set an amount that is viable for the business and users, considering the sheer variety of economic backgrounds users come from (particularly in India).
Affiliate Marketing
Fantasy sports solutions attract a vast majority of the passionate, sports-loving community across the world. These users are very likely to purchase third-party products like game merchandise, equipment, and more offered by retail businesses. Partnering with sports retailers and communities and agreeing on a commission for your business for each of their products sold via your platform is another great way to multiply your fantasy sports revenue sources.
Strategic Sponsorships
Popular gaming leagues like the IPL have proven to be enhanced visibility enhancers for any fantasy sports platform. Strategic partnerships and sponsorships for major leagues, popular teams, and sports merchandise providers can bring enhanced visibility to your platform, drive more revenue, and incentivise users with more attractive rewards for their win.
Fantasy Sports App Development Cost
The cost of developing a fantasy sports app depends on several factors like:
App Customization
This refers to the kind of sophistication you want to give users with your fantasy sports app solutions- do they offer standard fantasy features like team and player selection or do they provide future-proof, immersive experiences like predictor modules, real-time match updates, and more. Additionally, what level of control do you expect for your Admin panels also determines the degree of customization required for your fantasy sports app.
Development Platform
Fantasy sports game development entails a selection of Native development (specific development for Android and iOS platforms), or hybrid app development (where a single codebase can be deployed across both platforms, eliminating the need for platform-specific development or maintenance). The costs for Native and Hybrid fantasy sports development vary significantly, considering the former requires two different codebases, while the latter involves a single, shared codebase that minimizes investment for early market testing.
Country-Specific Regulations
Fantasy sports software development requires businesses to adhere to laws established for fantasy app developers in each country. As fantasy sports apps unite users across the globe, it is important to ensure that every user can seamlessly enjoy the fantasy gaming experience in their respective countries, including seamless payments and transactions in accordance with the laws of their residing countries. This requires specific integrations to accommodate ever user and adds up to the fantasy sports app development cost ↗
White-label vs Custom Solution
A white-label solution ↗ refers to an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use solution that each business can rebrand as their own. These solutions have a 7-14 day time-to-market period and cost approximately $5k-$15k per sport. Custom fantasy sports app development, on the other hand, refers to developing a solution completely tailor-made from scratch for the unique needs of a business, entailing complete custom source code delivery and 1-3 months time-to-market. Custom solutions can range anywhere between $15k-to$100k depending on unique business needs.
Country-Specific Compliance, License, and Documents Requirements
For any entrepreneur thinking how to create a fantasy sports app, knowledge of country-specific compliance and license requirements is paramount to plan development accordingly. Mentioned below are some of these requirements-
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Fantasy App/Gambling License: This is mandatory for publishing your app on Play Store.
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Legal Opinion Document: To prove to Play Store that your fantasy sports app is legal ↗ and is restricted in every state where fantasy games are prohibited by law, you need a notarised legal opinion document to establish their app qualifies as game of skill as opposed to game of chance (gambling).
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Prohibition of using real money for fantasy games in Gulf countries: Fantasy sports businesses cannot use real money for fantasy games in Gulf countries. This is where virtual coins can help adhere to established laws and bring fantasy sports apps to these countries.
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Mandatory KYC: All fantasy sports platforms must incorporate KYC verification in their apps to maintain credibility of all transactions.
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Documents mandatory for payment gateway application: Businesses in India require a GST certificate, business PAN, Adhaar cards, Registration certificate of their company as well as CIN number to apply for the payment gateway for their fantasy sports apps.
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Documents for OTP service: Businesses require a DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) registration for sending OTPs to prevent unsolicited communication and establish trust among users with headers in their OTP messages.
Fantasy Sports Software Development: Best Practices To Follow in 2025
If you are developing a fantasy sports software in 2025, you can benefit from the following list of best practices we have acquired over ten years of fantasy sports app development:
Prioritizing Platform Security
As India’s number one fantasy sports app development company, we prioritize platform security from the outset and follow robust data authentication measures to protect users’ data. There is API authentication in place in all our fantasy sports apps, meaning no user without the authentication code can access the fantasy sports API ↗.
Secure Database
As fantasy sports app developers helping businesses comply with established data regulations, such as GDPR, we ensure our databases are secure with robust authentication measures following a comprehensive security checklist, to ensure that the stored user data is always safe and never shared.
Providing For Peak Loads
If you are wondering how to develop a fantasy sports app like Dream 11, one of the major aspects of for fantasy sports app development to be considered is top-notch and seamless app functionality in peak load periods. All our apps catering to vast user bases of over 50k or one lakh have auto scaling implemented for the server to automatically adjust according to the increased user load and perform without any lag in peak match periods.
Scenario Testing In Development
Our fantasy sports mobile app development services ↗ cover the scenario testing for all possible match scenarios in the development itself to ensure users face no difficulty in the event of an unplanned change in the match schedule – such as, the match getting cancelled due to rain, after which their deposited amounts are automatically refunded back to their accounts seamlessly.
Continuous Feature Development
Our fantasy sports app development services help your fantasy sports platform evolve with the times and help you implement whichever feature or integration necessary for your business at any time you want after deployment.
24*7 Support
As a fantasy sports development company functioning as true solution partners for clients, we offer complete development support during crucial match hours, irrespective of whether the match is scheduled during office hours or later, ensuring our clients never have to face any difficulty should any issue arise during a match.
End-to-End Fantasy Sports App Development Services
As solution partners, we don’t just manage the application side of things. We manage updating real-time sports data, Admin panel, score updates, and fantasy sports website creation to give clients all fantasy sports app development services they need under one roof, including consultation for country-specific compliance and license requirements.
Responsible Gaming
We promote responsible gaming as a fantasy sports app development company, restricting all users below the age of 21 years from daily fantasy sports, and ensure that our platforms are non-addictive for every user by giving them the option to set time limits for restricting their participation in paid contests.
Conclusion
Developing a fantasy sports app in 2025 is one of the most lucrative business opportunities with a well-established market and promising growth potential. However, the key to success in the sector depends on how well your app can engage and retain users, evolve with the dynamic market, and offer consistent performance, while constantly adhering to established norms. We hope this in-depth guide gave you a fair idea of all considerations for fantasy sports app development and will enable you to make informed decisions while bringing your fantasy sports app to life- be it regarding development, cost, features, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the fantasy sports app development cost in 2025?
Developing a white-label fantasy sports app will cost approximately $5-15k per sport depending on specific requirements, while developing a custom fantasy sports app will cost approximately $15k-$100k depending on unique business needs.
2. What are the different types of fantasy sports apps?
The different types of fantasy sports apps include season-long fantasy apps, daily fantasy sports, casual fantasy games, general fantasy sports, and betting-focussed fantasy apps among others.
3. How does a fantasy sports platform work?
Fantasy sports platforms enable users to create their virtual teams based on real gaming events, leveraging their strategic decision-making capabilities to select their teams, optimize lineups, complete with fellow users and lead their virtual teams to victory for which they are rewarded.
