IPL may feel aftershocks
One of the knock-on effects of a blanket ban could be felt by Indian cricket, especially the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). Various IPL teams as well as the competition itself are tied up with various real money gaming firms, including Dream XI and My11Circle.
Even if Indian cricket will not have a lot of problems onboarding new sponsors — if they want to go down that path — there may be some short term pain. “Fantasy gaming platforms like My11Circle and Dream11 have become heavyweight backers of Indian sports,” said Santosh N, managing partner of D & P Advisory, an independent valuation company.
“My11Circle has committed Rs 625 cr for an IPL associate sponsorship slot, while Dream11 has consistently backed franchises such as Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans, and Sunrisers Hyderabad as title or principal sponsors. My11Circle is currently an IPL associate sponsor at the league level, contributing a large share of central sponsorship revenue. Separately, Dream11 has team-level sponsorships, serving as Title Partner and Principal Partners for some teams. Together, fantasy sports brands account for hundreds of crores in sponsorship inflows, making IPL one of the most exposed properties to a potential ban.”
Dream11, as it stands, is the Indian team’s ‘lead sponsor’ but that is scheduled to end after next year’s men’s T20 World Cup. “Banning it would strip IPL and many smaller leagues of vital funding, compress marketing budgets, and likely curb the steady upward trend in sponsorship revenues.” Santosh added.
My11Circle also counts a number of active Indian cricketers as their brand ambassadors. Per the bill, they can’t endorse any of these products.
Set for a challenge?
If and when it becomes law, the gaming companies may decide to challenge its constitutionality. Sports lawyers this newspaper spoke to said that fantasy games like Dream11 are ‘games of skill’ according to a Supreme Court judgment a few years earlier. A Dream11 spokesperson ‘declined to comment’ for multiple questions raised by this mast.
The bill caught a lot of industry stakeholders off guard, especially because this government’s previous moves with respect to the online gaming industry was seen as favouring them. It’s been reported that the government are now citing national security as well as social issues for this step.