Earlier today, the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025’ was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The legislation aims to regulate the multi-billion-dollar online gaming sector. This move could have a significant effect on cricket in India.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has deals with two of the biggest online gaming companies in India. Dream11 had bought the title rights for the India men’s and women’s cricket teams for Rs 358 crore. The deal, which started in July 2023, will last until March 2026. That’s about Rs 120 crore per year.
The BCCI made a similar deal with My11Circle, who have the fantasy gaming rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL). The rights deal is worth Rs 625 for a five-year period. My11Circle will pay the BCCI a whopping Rs 125 crore from the IPL 2024 to 2028 season.
Online Gaming Bill’s effect on cricket
If the Online Gaming Bill 2025 gets passed in the Rajya Sabha, the BCCI won’t have two major sponsors. But according to PTI, the bill won’t have a huge impact in the long term. Sports lawyer Vidushpat Singhania believes that the BCCI won’t have much trouble finding other sponsors.
“Cricket is huge in India, and there won’t be any dearth of sponsors for Indian cricket. However, the personal sponsorship market can shrink because of this bill. Fan engagement will also be affected,” Vidushpat told PTI.
Stars like MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, and Jasprit Bumrah have deals with Dream11. Others like Sourav Ganguly, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh, and Yashasvi Jaiswal have signed with My11Circle.
BCCI’s past struggles with sponsors
It’s not the first time BCCI has had issues with its title sponsors. Oppo had signed on in 2017 for 5 years but discontinued the deal after just 2 years. Byju’s took over in 2019 but failed to make payments on time, which led to the termination of their contract, and the company filed for insolvency. Vivo signed a 5-year deal with BCCI as IPL’s title sponsor in 2018 but the deal had to end due to tensions between India and China in 2020.
And then comes Sahara. For 12 years, they were Team India’s title sponsor, but that too ended in the company declaring insolvency. Despite all this, the BCCI has never had issues finding new sponsors, and it won’t now. But cricketers might have to suffer on a personal level due to the Online Gaming Bill.
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