Indian fantasy sports platform PlayerzPot is confident of making a profit despite more than half the year being lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic posed a challenge for daily fantasy sports platforms since live sports were halted across the globe.

“For the fantasy sports segment in India, this year was a complete roller coaster ride. This year has seen its ups and downs. Due to the pandemic, six months have been washed out,” said Mitesh Gangar and Yogesh Doiphode, co-founders of PlayerzPot, in an interview with the AnimationExpress.

However, it was not all bad news for PlayerzPot. Despite sports not being played for more than six months, the company’s co-founders revealed that revenues were on the rise.

The higher than expected income was attributed to the increased traction during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. The co-founders believe that the young startup can at least match the income of the previous financial year due to the success of IPL 2020.

“With the surge experienced and the boost received due to IPL 2020, which enjoyed high viewership and interest due to fans engaging more due to being quarantined at home, we are confident that we will be able to at least match up to last years revenue,” Gangar and Doiphode reckoned.

PlayerzPot’s user base also spiralled during IPL 2020 and now boasts more than 2.5 million players.

“During this IPL we have seen a strong new user base spike and we have crossed 2.5 million registered user base. The last half million was recorded in the shortest span of time for PlayerzPot.”

Doiphode said that cricket accounts for 90 per cent of the overall sports market in India and with IPL 2021 returning to India and the T20 World Cup also happening this year, fantasy gaming will be a definite crowd-puller.

“The year 2021 will be of prime importance to everyone in the industry. With major events happening, the exposure of fantasy gaming will be at an all-time high as this will be the first time people would be exposed to two IPLs and one World Cup within a year span.

“The recall value of fantasy games will peak and we believe it will be a year which can turn around the complete industry,” Doiphode said optimistically.