Gaming federation welcomes government's advisory on advertisement of online betting platforms

The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) on October 4 welcomed the advisory of the government pertaining to showing ads of online betting sites on any television and digital media platforms.

The development comes after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) issued an advisory on advertisements on Online Betting platforms. 

In the said advisory, the ministry stated that such sites pose significant financial and socio-economic risks for consumers, especially youth and children. The ministry asked private television channels, digital news publishers, and OTT platforms to avoid showing such advertisements for online gambling sites and surrogate advertisements.

“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. 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,'' said Roland Landers, chief executive officer of The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF). 

''We will continue to monitor this and report any infraction to the Government. We hope that, unlike earlier the 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.

Interestingly, on June 13, the ministry issued a similar advisory, wherein, it asked newspapers, private TV channels, and digital news publishers to stop showing such advertisements on online betting platforms.