Indian cricketers likely to lose INR 200 crore annually following fantasy gaming ban

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 is understood to have a massive impact on the Indian cricketing ecosystem. The Board of Control for Cricket in India's sponsorship deal with Dream11, a Dream Sports-owned fantasy gaming arm, was valued at INR 358 crore. There are reports that the BCCI might bring in a sponsor for India before the Asia Cup 2025, which commences next month.

However, a huge ripple is expected to follow after the government decided to outright ban real-money apps. The aftershock is anticipated to hit the cricketers too in addition to various corporates and advertisers which were in close association with such kind of apps, according to the latest reports that have emerged.

There were several players from the Men in Blue that had ties with numerous fantasy sports platforms. Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya were all contracted with Dream11, whereas, other top platforms had also brought in players like Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rinku Singh and even former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly. The likes of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni will also be affected.

Kohli's contract with MPL, India's jersey sponsor briefly, is estimated to be around INR 10–12 crore per annum. Dhoni's link with a popular platform is estimated to be around INR 6–7 crore. The figure was around the INR 1 crore-mark for upcoming players. On a collective basis, Indian cricketers are reported, as per Cricbuzz, to lose anywhere between INR 150–200 crore a year. For quite a few players, the ban has effectively wiped out their whole endorsement revenue, as these kinds of companies were the only brands on their line-up.

Impact on the IPL and cricket industry

The domino effect is expected to be spilled over on the cricketing board too. The Indian Premier League's associate sponsor My11 Circle was fuelling a total of INR 125 crore a year to the BCCI. There were three more years left in the five-year contract. A few of the IPL franchises like KKR, LSG and SRH will not be getting around INR 10–20 crore a year, the lucrative sum which they were earning till now.  

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An expert of the advertising industry like executive vice-president of Elara Capital Karan Taurani has commented that the bill will most probably cost a humungous INR 8,000-10,000 crore a year. He also spoke on the effect of the diminishing share on the entire cricketing system.  

"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. 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. Broadly, that translates to about INR 8,000-10,000 crore," added Taurani.