Govt urges TV and digital media platforms to refrain from publishing betting ads

The government has urged TV and digital media platforms asking them not to publish advertisements of online betting platforms on online and social media.

Referring to an advisory on the matter issued by the government in June this year, the Ministry of the Information and Broadcasting in its statement stated, “Attention is invited to the advisory dated 13.06.2022 to publishers of news and current affairs content on digital media advising them to refrain from publishing advertisements of online betting platforms on online and social media. The online advertisement intermediaries were also advised not to target such advertisements towards the Indian audience. The advisory had been issued for the reason that betting and gambling is prohibited in most pans of the country, and pose significant financial and socio- economic risk for the consumers, especially youth and children. Accordingly, the promotion of offline or online betting/gambling through advertisements is not advised in larger public interest.”

“In this regard, the Ministry has observed that promotional content and advertisements of betting platforms are still visible on certain news platforms and OTT platforms. Further, it has also come to the notice of this Ministry that some online offshore betting platforms have started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise betting platforms on digital media,” the statement read.

With regard to TV channels, the Ministry stated that the online offshore betting platforms have started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise their betting platforms on TV channels. It contended that several sports channels were showing ads of platforms like Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf  777 and 1xBet. The circulars also contained relevant proof of the violation. 

The ministry said violation of the order will lead to penalty under the applicable laws.