Gaming body welcomes govt's diktat on online betting advertisements

The All India Gaming Federation on Tuesday welcomed the new government advisory against showing ads of online betting sites on any television and digital media platforms.
 

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday issued two advisories asking private television channels, digital news publishers, and over-the-top (OTT) platforms to refrain from showing advertisements on online betting sites. It has also asked the channels to stop publishing surrogate advertisements of such illegal sites.
 

Roland Landers, chief executive officer of The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), said, “We are grateful to the government for taking such a decisive step against illegal offshore gambling websites, which have been advertising in India in the garb of surrogate news and sports websites. The AIGF has been highlighting this menace since 2018, and has been constantly taking up these issues with various central ministries and also providing evidence of uninterrupted advertising on major Indian OTT and satellite channels.”
 

The ministry said it had issued a similar advisory on June 13, asking newspapers, private TV channels, and digital news publishers to refrain from publishing ads of online betting platforms. However, it has observed that several sports channels on television, as well as on OTT platforms, have recently been featuring advertisements of offshore online betting platforms and their surrogate news websites.
 

The advisories were supplemented with evidence of direct and surrogate ads of betting websites such as Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf 777, and 1xBet. The ministry added that online offshore betting platforms were using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise the betting platforms on digital media. The logos of surrogate news websites also resemble betting platforms.
 

Landers said, “We will continue to monitor this and report any infraction to the government. We hope that, unlike TV networks, OTTs and digital news publishers will take this advisory seriously and not support these anti-national websites and give them prime-time airspace.”
 

He added that the ministry’s advisory would help in distinguishing legitimate Indian online skill gaming platforms and illegal gambling sites. “Indian online skill gaming companies provide the highest player protection measures and are a form of entertainment against these illegal gambling sites, which are the main reason for widespread consumer harm,” Landers said.