The Indian iGaming market is often perceived as one of the fastest growing in the world: huge audience, mobile internet, millions of young users and high interest in sports. But if you look deeper, the picture turns out to be much narrower. Blask's analytics on market dynamics for 2022–2025 shows an unexpected feature: virtually all demand is concentrated around one sport - cricket.
The study demonstrates, what months, during which the major cricket calendar takes place, almost always become leaders in player activity. When cricket fades from the limelight, the market is noticeably cooling, even if the world's largest sporting events are taking place simultaneously.
The main engine of the industry is the Indian Premier League, better known as IPL. The tournament takes place in the spring, usually from late March to May, and it is precisely this period that consistently generates maximum audience interest. IN 2023 And 2024 April and May became the strongest months of the year, and in 2025 March was added to them, taking together the entire top ranking. Moreover, interest even depends on the tournament calendar: if the season changes, the peak of market activity moves along with it.
Interesting, that the real competitor to the IPL is not the casinos, not football or even international leagues of other disciplines, but just another cricket. in autumn 2023 year, the Cricket World Cup showed a high result, in summer 2024 attention increased by ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, and in the spring 2025 gave additional impetus to the ICC Champions Trophy. In four years, only once has a month without the IPL reached the top of the rankings - and this was again during the World Cricket Championship.
Against this background, global sporting events look especially indicative. December, which in many countries is considered one of the best months for iGaming, in India remains only in the middle of the ranking. Even the football hype around 2022 The FIFA World Cup has failed to raise interest to the level of cricket periods. UEFA Euro worked similarly 2024 along with 2024 Copa América - the audience followed them, but they did not become the driver of rates.
It turns out to be an interesting model: India loves different sports, but money and player activity is concentrated almost exclusively around cricket. For a local user, football or tennis often remains entertainment and content to watch, while betting turns into action during major cricket events.
How does this correlate with Ukraine?
The Ukrainian market looks almost the opposite. If there is one dominant sporting center of gravity in India - cricket, then in Ukraine demand is more distributed. Football traditionally generates the main interest: European tournaments, national team matches, European Cups, major championships. But at the same time, e-sports play a significant role, MMA, boxing and local sports news feeds.
That is, Ukraine lives according to the model of diversification of interests, and India - according to the superconcentration model. For operators this is a fundamental difference: in India it is enough to get on the cricket calendar, whereas in Ukraine you have to work with several audiences and different seasons of activity at once.
This is why the Indian market is often called one of the largest in the world, but at the same time one of the most dependent on one sporting phenomenon - cricket.
