The biggest spending brand on the Indian Premier League, Dream11 is hit hard by an Andhra Pradesh Government Ordinance.
The IPL title sponsor Dream11 will be among the brands which will be directly affected by the Ordinance that bans real money games like online rummy, poker and fantasy gaming.
The Andhra Pradesh Government, according to Outlook.com, has passed an Ordinance on September 25 to ban all online gaming activities, which involve real money gaming. The Ordinance to amend the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act 1974 has come into force with immediate effect.
This simply means that online gaming, fantasy sports, rummy and poker are banned in the State with immediate effect.
Telangana Government has earlier passed a similar order to ban online gaming.
The Andhra Pradesh Gaming (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 prohibits (i) collection or soliciting of bets; (ii) receipt or distribution of winning or prizes in money or otherwise in respect of any wager or bet; (iii) any act which is intended to aid, induce, solicit or facilitate wagering or betting or such collection, soliciting, receipt or distribution and (iv) any act of risking money or playing stakes or otherwise on the result of a game or an event including on a game of skill.
The fantasy gaming players have been among the major sponsors – for teams and broadcast – in the IPL 2020 going on in the UAE.
Dream11 alone has invested over ₹ 400 crores by way of sponsorships in the IPL – ₹ 222 crores for the title sponsorship, on broadcast and team sponsorships. The brand’s campaign, spearheaded by Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni, also involves other leading cricketers like Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant.
Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag are also endorsing various online gaming platforms.
Since online gaming/real money gaming is a state subject, Dream11 has respected the law and restricted access to consumers, saying, “Sorry, if your current residence and bank account is from Andhra, Assam, Odisha, Telangana, Nagaland and Sikkim, you cannot participate in the cash contests on Dream11.”
Dream11 also reportedly has two Special Leave Petitions pending in the Supreme Court – one by the Maharashtra Government on evasion of taxes (GST) to the tune of over ₹ 2,200 crores-plus, and the other is why fantasy should not be categorised as gambling/betting.