Dream11 and My11Circle are two of the largest online fantasy sports platforms operating in India where the user can build a fantasy cricket or football team, etc., and can make real money by taking on that particular team that they have created. No matter this, they are widely popular now; both Dream11 and My11Circle have had issues with staying listed on the Google Play Store. The failure to observe these apps in the Play Store left many users wondering and discussing various factors that led to the app’s removal from the marketplace.
1. Google Play Store Policies
Dream11 and My11Circle cannot be downloaded from the Google Play Store for two main reasons: Firstly, it runs extremely tight policies on all kinds of gambling applications. Specifically for Google, there are rather clear rules regarding apps that have to do with real money gambling/betting. Popular apps store Google Play Store rules state that apps related to gambling and providing the service to bet for cash are either prohibited or limited in many countries, including India.
Similar to Dream11, My11Circle allows users to play other fantasy sports for cash consideration that can be easily categorized as online betting. Although fantasy sports did not fall under the gambling law in India under some conditions, Google appears rather cautious about betting applications where money is involved. The reason why the above platforms enable users to pay entry fees and win cash prizes could have made them be pulled out of the Play Store since it does not contain gambling according to Google’s stringent policies.
2. Indian Government Regulations and Legal Issues
Although some forms of fantasy sports have been held to be legal by the Indian Supreme Court in some instances about online betting and real money gaming, the law on the subject remains rather murky in India. Most countries have even passed laws to govern the act of gambling, and some have even banned some online sites dealing with real money online gambling. These become a problem for developers of apps given that there are national laws as well as Google Play Store international policies for developers to adhere to.
Both Dream11 and My11Circle stand on the fact that their services are legal because they depend on the decision of the law that categorizes skill-based gaming as different from games that are of chance. However, due to the uncertainty of gambling laws in various Indian states, the company might have felt the pressure to avoid conflicts with the law and so was forced to delete such apps from the Play Store.
3. Google’s Take on Staking in Fantasy Sports Apps
Google was able to adopt a very selective policy on deploying fantasy sports apps in which a player uses actual money for a stake. Some of the apps that fall under the fantasy sports genre that were permitted to stay operational in India include those that were allowed by the Google Play Store and are often allowed based on the platform’s fitness with Indian laws and Google’s general principles.
Indeed, this has been a problem with Dream11, especially in terms of log growth. However, since Dream11 has been banned from the Play Store, users can download it from the official site of Dream11 or any third-party store application. This situation shows that Google does not approve real money gaming apps unless they comply with the content provided and the regulations. My11Circle has encountered similar problems, and at some point, it was banned from the Play Store, even though it is ubiquitous.
4. Other Download Links for The Actual User
However, both of these apps are not available on the Play Store, but they can still be downloaded and used by Indian as well as international users. Users can download various APK files from their official site or download them from third-party app stores. These alternatives help the users to do fantasy sports on these apps without going back to the Google Play Store.
For instance, Dream11 has a download APK option at the bottom of its homepage, and clicking the link takes the user straight to downloading the app and installing it on their Android device. Likewise, with My11Circle, the user can also download the app from its authorized site. However, this means of downloading applications is also not very secure because APK files from other sources can be unsafe. People need to be very attentive and only get applications from reliable sources.
5. That is the future of Dream11 and My11Circle in Play Store
The availability of Dream11 and My11Circle in the Play Store in the future can be volatile since it depends on the following conditions: Google’s policies, the changes in the Indian gambling legislation, and the further evolution of the application to match the law of India, as well as the policies of the Play Store. If there is more clarification in the future regarding the operation of fantasy sports apps, Google may change its policies, or they might look at it differently.
For now, Dream11 and My11Circle may not stop the attempts to reach users, either offering the APK files directly or taking advantage of third-party app stores. Nonetheless, if such applications are not available on the Play Store, they may end up struggling to find new end-users; more so, those who do not use third-party sites for downloading applications.
Conclusion
All in all, Dream11 and My11Circle are not Google Play Store compliant since, on the one hand, they present some risks related to gambling legislation, and on the other, Google is rather restrictive about real money services. Yet both platforms are running their businesses in territories, which have intricate legal frameworks and legislation for them to follow on both local and international levels. As consumers, people need to be informed on these matters and look for other means of getting at these sites more securely. As for the legal regulation of such apps and constant changes and updates of the policies as to the case of the Google Play Store, their further presence in the market as legal and officially downloadable applications is still uncertain, or whether they will remain to exist only as the applications that can be downloaded in other ways.
