Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan fell under Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) radar after he signed a contract with a betting website without approval from the national board.
Shakib announced his partnership with the company, Betwinner News, on his social media account. BCB President Nazmul Hassan proceeded to bring up the matter during a press conference in the aftermath of a board meeting.
“Shakib’s latest sponsorship was discussed during Thursday’s meeting. We have instructed to serve him a notice, to ask him what’s happening with this. The board will not allow it if it is related to betting.”
“He definitely hasn’t asked us for permission. Bangladesh’s law doesn’t permit it. It is a serious issue. We cannot however just rely on a Facebook post (sic), so we have to investigate to find out about it,” Hassan said.
“Shakib al Hasan didn’t inform us about his deal” – BCB Chief
Speaking about the issue, BCB chief executive, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, said they want to resolve the matter quickly. Although the website isn’t associated with betting directly, the legality needs to be checked.
“It is quite clear why these news portals are made. We all very well know what these are. Shakib didn’t inform us about his deal. We heard about it today (Wednesday). We are looking at it legally, and want to settle the matter quickly.”
“It is not a direct contract with a betting site, but it is related to the betting site. It is a news portal. But since betting is related to it, we have to check the legal side of it. The law of the land doesn’t allow betting, so we will do what is legally necessary,” Nizamuddin told Dhaka-based Bengali newspaper ‘Kaler Kantho’.
“If he (Shakib) understands what it is, then it will be easy. If he doesn’t understand, it will be complicated. There’s a matter of our image being damaged. There are merits and demerits in everything. He probably didn’t think about the demerits,” he added.
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