After the government banned real-money online gaming last month, leaving the world’s richest cricket board scrambling to find a new lead sponsor to replace Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11.
After the central government forbade real-money online games as well as their promotion, including fantasy sports, Dream11, which had signed a three-year contract worth about 3.6 billion rupees ($44m) through 2026, can no longer sponsor the national team.
The Bill 2025 Promotion and Regulating Online Gaming Act was passed last month in India’s upper house of parliament.
Due to cricket’s popularity and the country’s diverse population, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) established a September 16 deadline for new bid submissions.
Although the Asia Cup will begin on September 9 and there will be no front-of-shirt sponsors on the field in the opening week, which includes the marquee game against Pakistan on September 14, the auction is unlikely to remain unsold.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the board is seeking 35 million rupees ($397.6k) per match for bilateral matches and 15 million ($170.4k) per match for India’s participation in the International Cricket Council and Asian Cricket Council tournaments in a three-year sponsorship cycle, according to a citing a source with knowledge of the matter.
Over an estimated 140 games in the 2025-28 cycle, the BCCI expects to generate about 4.52 billion rupees ($51.3m), about 940 million ($10.7m) more than under Dream11’s deal, which was 3.58 billion ($40.7m) for the period July 2023 to March 2026 – an uplift of more than 20 percent.
Source: Aljazeera
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