Former India opener Gautam Gambhir says cricketers endorsing fantasy gaming platforms shouldn’t be questioned if the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly himself is doing it. Gambhir though is against the rising trend of surrogate advertising wherein celebrities are roped in to endorse products which cannot be advertised otherwise by using them to promote a different product of the same brand in disguise.
This kind of practice is generally seen in the promotion of alcohol, tobacco products and betting websites. Gambhir says if cricketers are expected to stop promoting fantasy gaming then the example should be set by people at the top, referring to Ganguly.
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“If the BCCI president (Sourav Ganguly) is doing it, you can’t expect other players not to do it. If he says that no one should be allowed to do it, I think everyone should follow that … It has to come from the top. Either we should ban this completely in India. It can’t be statewise. And no one should be allowed to endorse that," Gambhir the Indian Express.
“In the IPL, most of the endorsements and sponsorships are from fantasy league games such as Dream 11. It should be a collective decision from the BCCI whether we should allow this to happen or not," he added.
Gambhir in the past has himself been associated with a fantasy gaming platform but says he was clear to never endorse a betting website.
“Never. We were very clear that we were not going to endorse any betting site," said Gambhir who now divides his time between cricket commentary duties and as a politician post his retirement as a player.
Gambhir says fantasy gaming is fine as long as there’s no monetary exchange.
“I do endorse fantasy (games). I was also very clear that we had this apprehension at one point in time about whether we should or not. Fantasy and betting are probably a little similar, but not exactly the same. When I spoke to the owner of the fantasy game I endorse, I asked if they pay back in cash. He said no, we don’t pay back in cash. There are only gifts and hampers involved," Gambhir said.
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He continued, “My fantasy contract has expired which I endorsed for one year. But in one year, there was no issue of a person’s money getting stuck in the game. That is dangerous. That is a kind of betting. So we all need to be very clear on that front. We need to be very careful about that trend."
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