*The Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in a new advisory, says such offshore betting sites pose significant financial and socio-economic risks for consumers, especially young people and children, as betting and gambling are illegal in most parts of the country

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

In a move to protect consumers against harmful and deceptive offshore betting advert materials, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in India, has asked private television channels, digital news publishers, and OTT platforms to refrain from showing ads for foreign betting sites and surrogate advertisements.

The Ministry, in a new advisory, issued Monday, Monday, October 3, 2022, said such sites pose significant financial and socio-economic risks for consumers, especially young people and children.

The advisories further stated that since betting and gambling are illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements for these betting platforms as well as their surrogates are also prohibited.

The Ministry, June 13 this year, issued a similar advisory to newspapers, private TV channels and digital news publishers to refrain from publishing advertisements for online betting platforms.

According to the Indian Government, offshore betting platforms are now using news Web sites as surrogates to advertise on the digital media, ET report said.

It was learnt that in such cases, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting discovered that the logos of surrogate news Web sites were strikingly similar to those of the betting platforms themselves.

Neither the betting platforms nor the news Web sites are registered under any legal authority in India, said the government advisory.

Roland Landers, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AIGF, was quoted to have said: “We are grateful to the government for taking such a decisive step against illegal offshore gambling Web sites, which have been advertising in India in the garb of surrogate news and sports Web sites.”