Following the withdrawal of fantasy sports behemoth Dream11 and the exclusion of companies involved in real money gambling and cryptocurrency from the process due to a government prohibition on such organizations, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Tuesday requested bids for the title sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team.
The ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025’, which states that “no person shall offer any, aid, abet, induce, indulge, engage in offering online money gaming services nor shall involve in any advertisement which directly or indirectly promotes any person to play any online money game”, is the reason Dream11 recently shut down its real money games.
Together, Dream11 and My11Circle gave the BCCI almost Rs 1,000 crore for title sponsorship of the Indian cricket team and the IPL.
“Bidder, including any of its Group companies: (i) should not be engaged in online money gaming, betting or gambling services or similar services in India or anywhere in the world; (ii) should not provide any online money gaming, betting or gambling services or similar services to any Person in India; and (iii) should not have any investment or ownership interest in any Person engaged in betting or gambling services in India,” stated a press release from the BCCI.
September 12 is the deadline for purchasing the IEOI, and September 16 is the deadline for submitting the bid paperwork.
“To clarify, a bidder, including any of its Group companies, engaged in any activities/business that is prohibited under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 is not permitted to submit a bid,” it added.
Also barred from applying are tobacco, alcohol and any entity “which is likely to offend public morals such as, including but not limited to, pornography”.
Additionally, the BCCI said unequivocally that certain brand categories will be “blocked on account of the BCCI having existing sponsors within the said categories.”
These include manufacturers of sportswear and athleisure; banks, banking and financial services firms, and non-banking financial firms; non-alcoholic cold beverages; fans, safety locks, and mixer grinders; and insurance.
Currently, Adidas, Campa Cola, IDFC First Bank, and SBI Life are among the brands in these categories that are connected to BCCI.
“…bidder operating or engaged in multiple brand/product categories, one of which falls under either the Blocked Brand Categories or Prohibited Brand Categories, shall not be permitted to submit a bid in respect of such Blocked Brand Categories or Prohibited Brand Categories.
“Bidders are prohibited from submitting bids through surrogate brands. Surrogate branding refers to any attempt to indirectly submit a bid on behalf of a different entity or Person through the use of a different entity or person. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of different names, brands, identity or logos,” the Board stated.
According to the financial requirements for the auction, each bidder’s average net worth over the previous three years or their average turnover over the last three years must be at least Rs 300 crore.
According to the board, it has the authority to end or modify the IEOI process “in any manner without providing any reason” at any point.
The rights were purchased by Dream11 for $44 million (about Rs 358 crore) between 2023 and 2026. They are leaving with nearly a year remaining on their contract, but they won’t likely face any consequences.
“The BCCI fully understands one of our sponsorship partner’s plight. It is not their fault and unlike other issues of payment default, there won’t be any penalty levied on Dream11. This is a government rule and full compliance is required and in the current scenario, there business will be impacted,” a top BCCI official had told PTI.
