The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill has been the major talking point in the world of cricket for the last few days. Dream11 would no longer be the sponsors of the Indian cricket team, with the BCCI likely to get the new ones, even before the Asia Cup 2025 starts. In short, the BCCI won’t really feel the effects of the ban, but as per a report in Cricbuzz, cricketers might just.
Indian Cricketers Set to Lose Big
It is no secret that Indian cricketers have long been associated with these fantasy platforms, and now a ban in place could hamper their brand earnings significantly. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik & Krunal Pandya, all endorsed Dream11. On the other hand, Mohammed Siraj, Test skipper Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal endorsed My11 Circle.
Virat Kohli was associated with MPL, while MS Dhoni with Winzo. So what happens to those deals? As per reports, Kohli earns INR 175-200 Cr annually from brand endorsements. If MPL goes, then he might just lose 10-12 Cr. For Rohit, it is believed to be around 50-60 Cr overall, and that might just come down by 6-7 Cr.
IPL Teams to Lose Brand Endorsement Revenue too
For Dhoni, each brand deal maybe anywhere between 4-6 Cr, and he too likely will lose the same as Rohit. The Cricbuzz report further says, that collectively, the Indian players are set to lose around INR 150-200 Cr annually. What could be a big problem for the players, apart from the big ones, that fantasy platform deals account for a major chunk of their brand endorsement revenue.
For some players it might be the 100% of the brand revenue. Siraj had three endorsements previously. So, the loss of My11 Circle means a wipe off, of 33% of that share. Same is the case for Washington Sundar as well.
Apart from that, the IPL could be hit severely too. My11 Circle was the associate sponsor, and paid INR 125 Cr to the BCCI. Their deal was for five years, with three still left. Teams like KKR, LSG and SRH also are set to lose 10-20 Cr a year. Overall the advertising industry could be the biggest loser, with 8000-10000 Cr a year.
Overall Losses Estimated Around INR 10,000 Cr
“In terms of overall advertising spends, these gaming companies contribute around 7-8 percent of the market. Nearly 80 percent of that will vanish, since real money gaming accounts for 75-80 percent of the overall gaming market. So that is one big impact. Roughly 7-8 percent of total ad spends and about 15-20 percent of digital ad spends will also disappear, because their share in digital advertising is higher,” said Karan Taurani, executive vice-president, Elara Capital.
“This was the amount being spent on cricket and cricketers. Now, I think endorsements for cricketers will take a hit. Their brand value and income are bound to decline. While players endorse multiple products, the real money gaming segment contributed significantly to their endorsement revenue, which could drop by 20-25 percent.”
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