High Court Slaps Legal Notice To Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly For Promoting Online Sports App

A legal notice has been served to Virat Kohli, Captain of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly, former Indian captain and current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for promoting fantasy sports apps.

Other film-actors in trouble for advertising such apps include  Prakash Raj, Tammana, Rana, and Sudip Khan.

Read on to learn more…

Court Questions Credibility of Online Sports Apps, Accuses Owners of the Apps!

Mobile Premier League’s (MPL) brand ambassador is Virat Kohli whereas Sourav Ganguly endorses My11Circle.

After a few youths committed suicide because of losing money by participating in such mone-making apps, Mohammed Rizvi, an advocate filed a case against the sportsmen and actors promoting the fantasy sports app. 

Upon the hearing of the case, the Madurai bench of Madras High court involving Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice B Pugalendhi questioned the credibility of such fantasy sports apps. The court also accused the owners of the apps of tempting people to download these apps by using famous personalities.

As quoted by News18 the bench asked, “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 the state’s names. Are these teams playing on behalf of the state?”

The court has thus issued the legal notices to everyone mentioned above, and they have to respond by November 19. 

The court has directly struck the apparel sponsor of the Indian cricket team.

The Indian cricket board has assigned MPL as the apparel sponsor of the Indian cricket team for a period of 3 years. Previous apparel sponsor, Nike had a five-year deal signed that ended in 2020 and was paying Rs. 88 lakh. However, MPL has made a deal with the rate of Rs. 65 lakh per match.

Meanwhile, Dream11 is the title sponsor of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The Previous Case Filed Against Fantasy Sports Apps!

In August, the Indian cricket team was accused by a Chennai-based lawyer of enticing common people to download the fantasy sports apps. 

The lawyer had stated that such apps are dangerous and had also reckoned that they violate the right to life by stating Article 21 of the Constitution of India in his case. 

The lawyer had also demanded the arrest of celebrities endorsing such online gambling apps and also an immediate ban on such apps.