I&B ministry advises media entities against allowing direct, indirect advertisements of betting

New Delhi, Aug 25 (FN Representative) The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday advised all stakeholders, including the media entities, online advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms, to refrain from showing advertisements or promotional content on betting and gambling in any form. According to Ministry of Information & Broadcasting statement, the failure to adhere to this advisory may invite appropriate action from the Government of India under various statutes. The Ministry cited the recent Central government action against a network of agents who had collected substantial money from users of gambling apps that had subsequently funneled the funds out of India to reiterate that advertisements of gambling/betting platforms pose significant financial and socio-economic risk for the consumers, especially youth and children, the statement said. It further added that this mechanism has linkages to money laundering networks, thereby threatening the financial security of the country, it said.

In the advisory, the ministry said that along with illegalities, it is also likely that black money is used to pay for such advertisements. To that end, the ministry has noted that certain media entities, including advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms, have been allowing direct and indirect advertisements of betting and gambling platforms during major sporting events. Further, the ministry has observed that there is a tendency to spike promotion of such betting and gambling platforms during a major sporting event, it said. The ministry has issued advisories to warn media platforms against publicising betting/gambling platforms. The online advertisement intermediaries have also been advised not to target such advertisements towards the Indian audience.