Dream11 Ends Sponsorship with BCCI Following Real-Money Gaming Ban

Quick Summary

• Dream11, a major fantasy sports platform, recently shut down its real money gaming feature following the passage of the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025’ in Parliament.
• The bill bans all forms of online money games and advertising promoting them while permitting social gaming and subscription-based usage.
• Dream11 may withdraw as the title sponsor for the Indian cricket team due to financial impacts from this legislation. It currently has a $44 million (₹358 crore) contract for 2023-2026 with BCCI but may avoid penalties owing to a goverment regulation clause in its agreement.
• Fantasy sports contributions from Dream11 and My11Circle collectively amount to ₹1000 crore annually for BCCI thru sponsorships related to Indian cricket team and IPL.
• Industry experts estimate real money gaming accounts for approximately 90% of revenue in India’s fantasy sports market; My11Circle’s future adherence will also likely be impacted.
• Individual endorsements by cricketers with similar platforms face uncertainty based on insider insights.

Published: August 25, 2025 | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
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Indian Opinion Analysis

The passage of the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025’ heralds important transformations for India’s online gaming industry, specifically targeting platforms reliant on real-money transactions as their core revenue streams. While aligning with legal compliance reflects maturity on Dream11’s part, their potential exit from key sponsorship agreements underlines broader financial repercussions that coudl extend beyond just one platform or company.

For India’s sporting ecosystem, notably cricket which has consistently benefited from these revenues via sponsorship deals, this growth necessitates option sources of funding or structural adjustments within leagues like IPL. An indirect impact is also anticipated on individual athletes frequently endorsing such services privately – raising questions about how they might recalibrate partnerships moving forward.This landmark decision by parliament underscores India’s strengthening regulatory grip over digital industries while advocating risk mitigation associated with gambling-like behaviors among users. Though, it draws attention to dependency vulnerabilities faced by both businesses in creative fields such as fantasy sport designs shaped alongside audience consumption behaviors earlier-unregulated segments heavily virtual ground increasingly reshaped boundaries legality ethics limitations observable outcome ripple realistically contained flexibilities policy community-wide applications systemic calibers fairness-check established aim segmentation trends evolution systematically summoned dikkat !