Real money gaming is a rapidly growing thing in India. For an industry that’s largely unregulated still, real money gaming has become surprisingly popular with the new-age Indian netizens. Despite the government not making it legal and regulating online gambling (except for games of skill and horse racing), we see new websites and apps for online betting cropping up on a daily basis.
More and more people are opting to bet online on fantasy gaming apps or sports betting sites or even online casino games . And these gaming operators are sparing no expense in advertising to the masses. While they cannot directly advertise any gambling or games of chance, they choose to advertise games of skill such as poker, rummy, and fantasy gaming instead. Surrogate advertising comes in handy here.
And how are these gaming companies shelling out big bucks on advertising and marketing, you ask? By roping in some of the most popular sports persons in the country - cricketers! Here are some of the top cricketers who are endorsing online real money gaming brands.
1. Sachin Tendulkar for Paytm First Games
The god of cricket in India is the brand ambassador of Paytm First Games. First Games lets users bet money on Rummy, Poker, and Fantasy sports like cricket, football, and kabaddi. The app is available for both iOS and Android users. The Master Blaster has been endorsing First Games ever since they got him on board in 2020.
2. MS Dhoni for Pokerstars
Also in 2020, Sachiko Gaming roped in former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni as the brand ambassador for Pokerstars, a platform for online poker rooms. Poker players can play against other players from around the world and win great amounts of money, if they’re skilled at the game.
3. Virat Kohli for MPL
Mobile Premier League (MPL) managed to get Virat Kohli as brand ambassador and investor in 2019. Because MPL was also the official kit sponsor for Team India, Kohli came under some heat for potential conflict of interest, back in 2021. The collaboration survived and Kohli is still the biggest endorser of MPL.
4. Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah for Dream11
In 2019, the mega-successful fantasy gaming app Dream11 became the first Indian gaming company to become a unicorn. It’s no surprise then that they’ve managed to rope in several Indian cricketers (including MS Dhoni for a 2019 campaign) to become brand ambassadors. More recently, Dream11 announced that they’ve signed actors Kartik Aaryan and Samantha Prabhu as its newest endorsers.
