Dream11 exits as team India sponsor after Online Gaming Bill, BCCI looks for replacement
Reports state that Dream11 has pulled out as Team India’s jersey sponsor after the Online Gaming Bill, 2025 banned real-money gaming, forcing BCCI to seek a last-minute replacement.
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Dream11, India’s leading fantasy sports platform, has pulled out as the primary sponsor of the national cricket team, highlighting the immediate fallout of a sweeping new law that bans real-money online gaming, as per reports. The reported move comes days after Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, which prohibits companies like Dream11 from operating in their current form. The sponsorship agreement, signed in 2023 and valued at ₹358 crore, was supposed to run through 2026. Under the deal, Dream11 paid ₹3 crore for every home match and ₹1 crore for each away game.
With a major tournament looming, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) now faces an unusual challenge: finding a new jersey sponsor with less than two weeks to go. “If it’s not permissible, we won’t do anything,” a board official said, adding that fresh bids for the coveted slot are being invited ahead of the September 9 deadline.
The law, passed on August 21, imposes a blanket ban on real-money gaming while explicitly carving out space for e-sports and social online games. Within hours of the legislation’s passage, leading platforms began shutting down their cash-based services.
Dream11, which has been endorsed by cricket stars like M.S. Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as well as Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan, announced on its website: “As per The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, cash games and contests have been discontinued on Dream11.”
My11Circle, another fantasy sports operator owned by Play Games24x7 Pvt. Ltd., said in a social media post that it too was suspending its real-money offerings.
The impact is spreading beyond fantasy cricket. Nazara Technologies disclosed in a regulatory filing that Moonshine Technologies Private Ltd., the operator of the online poker platform PokerBaazi in which Nazara holds a 46 percent stake, has halted all real-money gaming. “Pursuant to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, passed by Parliament on August 21, 2025, and pending enactment, we wish to inform that, as a matter of abundant caution and in due respect of the government’s mandate, Moonshine Technologies Private Limited… has ceased offering real money online gaming operations,” the filing said.
PokerBaazi reassured players on X that “user funds remain completely safe and will be accessible for withdrawals.” WinZO, a platform that offered more than 100 money-based games, said it was “responsibly withdrawing impacted offerings” including rummy, poker, and fantasy cricket.
The government has framed the new law as a measure to protect consumers while fostering innovation in gaming. For the companies that fueled India’s fantasy sports boom, however, the abrupt shift leaves little room for play.
