Risks in cricket sponsorship laid bare in India

Team India’s shirt front, for both men and women, has displayed Dream11 since 2023. This prominent sponsorship has disappeared with immediate effect, starting with the men’s Asia Cup, which opened on Sept. 9 in the UAE.

Dream11’s disappearance is a casualty of India’s newly assented gaming bill, The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, which prohibits all forms of money-based online gaming and seeks to promote e-sports and online social games. The new law was passed by the Indian Parliament on Aug. 21, with an element of surprise and alacrity. It includes provisions to set up an Online Gaming Authority that will oversee the sector and provide policy guidance, along with harsh penalties for non-compliance. 

Its impact on Dream11, India’s largest fantasy sports platform, is severe, causing it to cease all paid contests and switch to a free-to-play model. It may be assumed that the company’s owners would be upset, since 95 percent of group revenues and profits have been erased overnight. Instead, it has been sanguine, at least publicly, expressing respect for the law. Harsh Jain, the CEO of Dream Sports, the parent company, has said that jobs are safe and that sufficient reserves are available to allow transition away from the fantasy sports platform, which was valued at $8 billion.

Even before the new bill came into force, Dream11 and its competitors had been subject to rising regulatory costs, the government having quadrupled the goods and service tax rate on online games. Profit margins were squeezed and Dream Sports registered losses in its latest financial year, its first in years. Although Dream11 is upbeat about its capacity to rebuild, the wider gaming industry, valued at $25 million and