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Betting companies looking for new ways to enter Pakistan cricket market

The companies are also using different names and have sponsored in Pakistan Super League (PSL) too

Betting companies looking for new ways to enter Pakistan cricket market PHOTO COURTESY: PCB

Betting companies are looking for new avenues in Pakistan and in the last year or so, three different companies have sponsored in the country. 

The companies are also using different names and have sponsored in Pakistan Super League (PSL) too.

Another company has signed a sponsorship deal with the franchise, a betting company in the home series last year was also among the sponsors.

According to the details, due to the ban on betting in Pakistan, foreign betting companies are now trying to enter the cricket market by adopting new methods, namely three different companies in a year, have made a slight change in the sponsorship deal.

Now the betting company in PSL has also changed its name and joined as sponsors. A logo of a company named "Dafa News" is being painted on the ground and boundary advertisements are also being placed.

According to the research of Express correspondent, it is the sub-company of the foreign betting website "Dafabet".

By opening the link on the news website, bets can be set after registration. The bets are being accepted for PSL matches and various offers have also been given to attract Pakistanis. Pakistani phone number and other details are requested in the registration by clicking on it.

Anyone can bet after the completion of the process. An offer of PKR 32,000 has also been made to attract new Pakistani customers. Bets were also being received on PSL matches.

Earlier in the year, a betting company 'Sky247' was part of the sponsors of the home series with a slight renaming. The Karachi Test between Pakistan and South Africa was also streamed live on the betting website. It was stopped after Express pointed out.

The third betting company, Wolf 777, has a deal with a franchise. They referred to themselves as a news website that does not include a link to the betting site. 

According to sources, this way is called 'Surrogate Advertising' where a company advertises with a slight change in its name. The company have also sponsored teams in other franchise leagues.

Betting is legal in most countries but now sports betting companies are likely to face bans from advertising in Australia, England. In such cases, they need new markets so they are looking at Asian countries including Pakistan.

Meanwhile, a franchise official said that almost all the teams were contacted by the betting companies, which had already sponsored several leagues. We had sought guidance from the PCB to know the policy in this regard but got no response.

On the other hand, sports reporter Abbas Raza from Lahore first contacted PCB on Thursday for their take on the news of betting, However, Media Director Samiul Hassan Burney told that he will respond back shortly.

Under the journalistic responsibilities, Express did not publish the news for another day. On Friday, several calls and messages were also sent to Sami Burney, but he did not consider it appropriate to respond.