Shakib forced to cut betting endorsement deal after BCB issued an ultimatum

Veteran Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has relayed to the board that he has cut ties with the betting company he signed a sponsorship deal with. The betting company happens to be Betwinner News. After which, the Bangladesh Cricket Board included him for the Asia Cup 2022.

Earlier, the 35-year-old entered into a sponsorship contract with Betwinner News. But hours after that Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) issued an ultimatum to him to either ditch it or face the axe by the national team. BCB president Nazmul Hasan raised concerns over the company’s legality.

“Shakib gave a letter to us saying that he was terminating his contract with Betwinner news and removing all posts from his social media pages regarding the deal,” BCB cricket operations chief Jalal Yunus told AFP as reported by Sportstar.

Betwinner News is a gambling firm based on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Curacao.

In Bangladesh all forms of gambling are illegal and the people in the country are also prohibited from promoting them. Therefore, Shakib’s deal with Betwinner news violated the law and he had no choice but to end the ties with the company.

“The law is clear-cut about what companies are prohibited (by the BCB), and this company is related to betting. You can call Betwinner News as a news (company), but it is branded as a betting company. It is a part (of the betting company). We have said that it cannot be related (to a betting company)”, Nazmul Hassan said as reported by Cricket Addictor.

“He (Shakib) has to decide if he wants to play for Bangladesh, or stay with betting. There’s no scope of keeping that association. He has to come out of it completely. Let alone the captaincy, he won’t be in the team.”

“There’s no discussion. We have made a very clear decision. Anyone who has any affiliation with a betting company can’t have a connection with the Bangladesh Cricket Board. We will not take him in the team unless we get a satisfactory answer from him,” he added.

At the moment, Shakib is leading Bangladesh in the ongoing season of Asia Cup in UAE. Because of all this chaos, the squad for the Asia Cup was delayed. Earlier, Shakib was banned for two years by the International Cricket Council (ICC), for not reporting multiple corrupt approaches by an Indian bookmaker back in 2019. In June this year, he was made the Test captain of Bangladesh again after Mominul Haque resigned from the said post.