A host of celebrities including India cricket team captain Virat Kohli and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly have been issued notices by the Madurai bench of Madras High Court for endorsing fantasy sports apps.
Apart from Kohli and Ganguly, actors Prakash Raj, Tammana, Rana and Sudip Khan have also been asked to respond to the notices by November 19.
“The apps are in the name of IPL teams such as Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and some apps are also in the name of state’s names. Are these teams playing on behalf of the state,” CricketNext quoted the bench as saying.
The case has been filed by an advocate Mohammed Rizvi after some youths died by suicide after allegedly losing money while playing the fantasy sports on such platforms.
Notably, Kohli endorses Mobile Premier League (MPL) and Ganguly is the brand ambassador of My11Circle.
MPL was recently reported to have bagged the sponsorship deal for the Indian cricket team’s kit for the period of three years. It replaced sports apparel giant Nike who was associated with BCCI since 2006.
The fresh deal is reportedly worth Rs 120 crores with BCCI also getting revenue share of 10 percent for every jersey or merchandise sold.
The development came after another fantasy sports platform Dream11 was announced as the title sponsor of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) being played in the UAE. The new player entered after mobile phone maker VIVO announced it will not be returning as the title sponsor for the current season.
In July also a petition was filed demanding the arrest of Kohli and Tamannah for promoting online gambling.
The petitioner had sought directions from Madras HC to ban online gambling apps claiming youngsters are getting addicted to them.