India vs Bangladesh: Cricket betting across the border

In Bangladesh, the crackdown began with a buzz in 2019, when raids on sporting clubs in Dhaka found gambling and illegal casinos running inside, and more than 250 people were arrested. The clubs went quiet, but gambling carried on through apps and sites, law enforcers said, with bets placed during cricket matches in bitcoin and other digital currencies. In 2026, the country passed a new law on online gambling and betting. For local readers, telecomasia.net has a breakdown of the betting rules.

Bangladesh: from a cyber law to the 2026 act

In May 2025 the Criminal Investigation Department began a nationwide campaign against online gambling and betting under the Cyber Security Ordinance 2025, which had made online gambling a crime. It said it had already identified more than 1,000 mobile financial service (MFS) agents suspected of handling payments tied to illegal gambling, and sent their names to Bangladesh Bank.

On 30 June 2026 parliament passed the Gambling Prevention Bill, which replaces the colonial-era Public Gambling Act of 1867. The same day, lawmakers dropped the gambling clause from the cyber law. The act took effect on 1 July, with these maximum penalties:

• online or remote gambling: five years in prison, a Tk 1 crore fine, or both
• online betting and bookmaking: seven years, a Tk 5 crore fine, or both
• match-fixing: seven years
• spot-fixing: five years

India: fantasy cricket loses the cash

India’s ban on online gambling has closed a billion-dollar industry that served hundreds of millions of people and sank the sponsorship of the national cricket team. Parliament in New Delhi passed the sweeping law in August 2025, after government figures showed companies had been stripping $2.3 billion a year from 450 million people.

Dream11, the biggest fantasy sports platform in India, put up notices that its cash games and contests had been discontinued. It also walked out of its $43 million deal with the BCCI, and its logo no longer appears across the shirts of India’s players.

Jamshed Noor, a butcher in Delhi, told AFP his best win on a fantasy app had been 600 rupees, about a day’s wage for a labourer. He plays for the love of cricket, he said, and money was certainly a draw, but he has kept playing now that cash is off the table.

IPL and BPL: two leagues, two headaches

The Indian law has also shaken up the wider sport, including the IPL. Santosh N, of D and P Advisory, put the share of fantasy and crypto platforms at as much as 40 percent of the advertising IPL broadcasters earned in 2025.

In the BPL, an independent committee formed by the BCB came across 36 suspicious incidents in the 2024-25 season, and more than 140 across the last five editions. The moments flagged in the matches under scrutiny included bowlers conceding wides one after another, deliberate no balls, strange team selection and slow batting in run chases. The BCB says it follows the ICC Anti-Corruption Code for Participants.

In May 2026 the Bangladesh Cricket Board charged a domestic cricketer and several team officials over betting breaches and obstruction of its probe into the 2025-26 season. Player Amit Mojumder and team manager Rezwan Kabir Siddique were charged with placing, accepting or laying bets in relation to matches.

India vs Bangladesh at a glance