Centre warns digital publishers, private channels against online betting ads
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in its advisory said it was observed that promotional content and advertisements of betting platforms are still visible on certain digital news platforms and OTT platforms.
The Narendra Modi government on Monday issued advisories to digital publishers, OTT platforms and private satellite television channels, asking them to refrain from publishing advertisements of online betting platforms. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in its advisory said it was observed that promotional content and advertisements of betting platforms are still visible on certain digital news platforms and OTT platforms. The government also said that some online offshore betting platforms have started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise betting platforms on digital media. Reiterating that betting and gambling is an illegal activity in most parts of India, the ministry said advertisements of online offshore betting and gambling platforms are prohibited. The ministry pointed out that with respect to the advertisements of the surrogate news websites run by the online betting platforms, the logos of the concerned news websites are similar to those betting platforms, which are not registered with any legal authorities. “Accordingly. the online oflshore betting platforms appear to be promoting betting and gambling under the garb of news as surrogate advertising. In this regard, the Department of Consumer Affairs has also informed that online betting platforms have been advertising themselves as professional sports blogs, sports news websites, cte. while providing an indicative list of online betting platforms which are using news for surrogate advertising,” the government added.The ministry has categorically asked the news websites and OTT platforms to refrain from broadcasting ads of online betting platforms or their surrogate news websites. Further, in its advisories to the private channels, the I&B ministry alleged some online offshore betting platforms have started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise their betting platforms on TV channels.
The government also said that some online offshore betting platforms have started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise betting platforms on digital media. (Representational image/Live Hindustan)
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The Centre reminded that betting and gambling is illegal in most parts of India, also pointing out that ads of surrogate websites run by these betting platforms having the identical logos as their parent company were run on the TV channels as they are not registered with any legal authority under the Indian law.
“In this regard, the Department of Consumer Affairs has also informed that online betting platforms have been advertising themselves as professional sports blogs, sports news websites, etc. while providing an indicative list of online betting platforms which are using news for surrogate advertising”, the government said.
“Contravention/violation of the above may invite penal action under the applicable laws”, the ministry warned.
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.
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