(Reuters) -India are looking for a new lead sponsor to replace Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11 after the government banned real-money online gaming last month, leaving the world's richest cricket board scrambling to secure fresh revenue.
Dream11, which had signed a three-year contract worth about 3.6 billion rupees ($44 million) running through 2026, can no longer sponsor the national team after the central government banned real-money online games as well as their promotion, including fantasy sports.
India's upper house of parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025 last month.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which commands some of the world's most lucrative broadcast deals thanks to cricket's popularity and India's vast population, set a September 16 deadline for new bid submissions.
The auction is unlikely to remain unsold for long, but with the Asia Cup starting on September 9, India may take the field without a front-of-shirt sponsor in the opening week, which includes the marquee match against rivals Pakistan on September 14.
The Economic Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter, the board is seeking 35 million rupees per match for bilaterals, and 15 million per match for India's fixtures in International Cricket Council and Asian Cricket Council tournaments in a three-year sponsorship cycle.
Over an estimated 140 games in the 2025-28 cycle, the BCCI expects to generate around 4.52 billion rupees, about 940 million more than under Dream11's deal, which was 3.58 billion for the period July 2023 to March 2026 - an uplift of more than 20%.
($1 = 87.5060 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in BengaluruEditing by Toby Davis)
