September 3, 2025

Big news in Indian cricket! The government’s recent ban on online betting games has slammed the brakes on Dream11’s sponsorship of the national cricket team. Dream11, a huge fantasy sports platform, had a juicy three-year deal worth about 3.6 billion rupees ($44 million), running until 2026. But now, thanks to the government banning real-money online games and their ads, including fantasy sports, Dream11 can no longer back the team. Last month, India’s upper house of parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025, making these changes official. This has left the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) — the richest cricket board in the world — rushing to find a new front-of-shirt sponsor. The BCCI has set a deadline of September 16 for new bids to come in. Cricket fans might see the team play without a lead sponsor during the first week of the Asia Cup, which starts on September 9. That week’s exciting highlight is the match against fierce rivals Pakistan on September 14. According to The Economic Times, people close to the matter said the BCCI is asking for 35 million rupees (about $397,600) per bilateral match, and 15 million rupees ($170,400) per match in ICC and Asian Cricket Council tournaments. This new deal will cover around 140 matches from 2025 to 2028. What does this mean in numbers? The BCCI hopes to make about 4.52 billion rupees ($51.3 million) in total from sponsorships during this period. That’s a whopping 940 million rupees ($10.7 million) more than the previous Dream11 deal, a rise of over 20%! With this new hunt for sponsors, will BCCI find a game-changing partner to fill big shoes? The cricket world is watching closely as the drama unfolds in the sponsorship arena!

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Tags: Dream11, Bcci, Online betting ban, Cricket sponsorship, India cricket, Online gaming law,