News Analysis India

Tag: Betting

  • I&B min cautions media outlets against advertisements promoting betting websites

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Amidst the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, the Ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) on Thursday advised media entities, media platforms and online advertisement intermediaries to refrain from carrying advertisements or promotional content of betting platforms.

    The advisory has been issued after the ministry observed advertisements and promotional content published in the newspapers.

    “The ministry has taken strong exception to the recent instances of mainstream English and Hindi newspapers carrying advertisements and promotional content of betting websites. The Advisory has been issued to all media formats, including newspapers, television channels, and online news publishers, and showed specific examples where such advertisements have appeared in the media in recent times,” read a press statement issued by the ministry.

    The ministry has also objected to the promotion by a specific betting platform encouraging the audience to watch a sports league on its website, which prima facie appears to be in violation of the Copyright Act, 1957.

    ALSO READ | Fantasy Sports revenue to rise 30-35 per cent to Rs 2,900-3,100 crore this IPL season

    While emphasizing on the legal obligation as well as the moral duty of the media, the advisory refers to provisions of the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council which mentions that “newspapers should not publish an advertisement containing anything which is unlawful or illegal…”, and further that “the newspapers and periodicals should scrutinize the advertisement inputs from ethical as well as legal angles in view of the editor’s responsibility for all contents including advertisement, under Section 7 of PRB Act, 1867. Revenue generation alone cannot and should not be the sole aim of the Press, juxtaposed with much larger public responsibility”.

    The ministry earlier issued similar advisories in the months of June and October last year stating that betting and gambling is illegal, and hence direct or surrogate advertisements of such activities fall foul of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act 1978, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and other relevant statutes.

    NEW DELHI: Amidst the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, the Ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) on Thursday advised media entities, media platforms and online advertisement intermediaries to refrain from carrying advertisements or promotional content of betting platforms.

    The advisory has been issued after the ministry observed advertisements and promotional content published in the newspapers.

    “The ministry has taken strong exception to the recent instances of mainstream English and Hindi newspapers carrying advertisements and promotional content of betting websites. The Advisory has been issued to all media formats, including newspapers, television channels, and online news publishers, and showed specific examples where such advertisements have appeared in the media in recent times,” read a press statement issued by the ministry.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The ministry has also objected to the promotion by a specific betting platform encouraging the audience to watch a sports league on its website, which prima facie appears to be in violation of the Copyright Act, 1957.

    ALSO READ | Fantasy Sports revenue to rise 30-35 per cent to Rs 2,900-3,100 crore this IPL season

    While emphasizing on the legal obligation as well as the moral duty of the media, the advisory refers to provisions of the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council which mentions that “newspapers should not publish an advertisement containing anything which is unlawful or illegal…”, and further that “the newspapers and periodicals should scrutinize the advertisement inputs from ethical as well as legal angles in view of the editor’s responsibility for all contents including advertisement, under Section 7 of PRB Act, 1867. Revenue generation alone cannot and should not be the sole aim of the Press, juxtaposed with much larger public responsibility”.

    The ministry earlier issued similar advisories in the months of June and October last year stating that betting and gambling is illegal, and hence direct or surrogate advertisements of such activities fall foul of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act 1978, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and other relevant statutes.

  • Betting companies continue to flout I&B ministry norms

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: Last Saturday, the Road Safety World Series concluded with India Legends coasting past Sri La­nka Legends. The Sachin Te­ndulkar-led side opted to bat first, making 195 before bowling out the opposition for 162. What, though, caught the eye in Ra­i­pur wasn’t the names emblazo­ned on the back of the players’ jerseys. It was what was written on the front of the players’ jerseys — 1XBET.

    After opting for a subtle ‘1xBAT professional sportsblog’ (surrogate advertising) in the form of a pop-up advertisement during the Asia Cup and other events, the betting company were one of the sponsors for as many as three teams at the Road Safety World Series. Apart from Sri Lanka Legends, they occupied substantial real estate on the jerseys of both South Africa Legends and West Indies Legends.

    Considering it’s predomina­ntly a betting company, 1XBET is already flouting a few laws by continuing to operate in the Indian market. Spooked by the number of advertisements taken out by betting companies, the Central government even issued multiple strongly-worded advisories but that has seemingly had no effect.

    In fact, the ecosystem doesn’t just exist but it thrives. That’s a claim made by 1Win’s affiliate page on Instagram. “This region (India) is relevant as it has a high interest in gambling,” one of their stories informs viewers. Other companies also exist in India via surrogate advertising.

    Nowhere is this more evident than in the Indian Super League (ISL), whose latest iteration began in Kochi on Friday. From cryptocurrency (socios.com) to sports betting news blogs (PariMatch News) to, even, seemingly a news website (Stake News) of stake.com (an online casino enterprise), they are all in India.

    Coming back to 1XBET, they are seemingly making a big play to grab even more eyeballs. Their latest move involves securing the services of Eva Elfie, an adult performer. On her Instagram page, Elfie posted a video of her promoting the company. “Bet you didn’t expect this!,” she posted. “I’m the new ambassador of @1xbeteng which means that there is a lot of cool stuff coming up. I can’t tell you everything now, but I’m sure that you gonna like it.”

    The focus on 1XBET is paramount because they have fallen foul of regulators worldwide. They were run out of UK partly ‘because of the use of pornography to promote its service,’ as football investigations website Josimar noted in an article. They also roped in the likes of World Cup winners Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, both of whom played in the India Legends side at the Road Safety World Series.

    This daily has learned that what 1XBET did with the three teams is outside the ambit of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). It’s up to the government to do something as this is a case of a sponsorship agreement.

    On Monday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a fresh advisory apropos betting companies.  “It had come to the notice of the Government that several sports channels on television, as well as on OTT platforms, have recently been showing advertisements of offshore online betting platforms as well as their surrogate news websites. The Advisories were supplemented with evidence which contained direct and surrogate advertisements of offshore betting platforms such as Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf 777, and 1xBet.

    “In the Advisories, the Ministry has informed that online offshore betting platforms are now using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise the betting platforms on digital media. In such cases, the Ministry has found that the logos of surrogate news websites bear striking resemblance to betting platforms. Moreover, the Ministry has stated that neither the betting platforms nor the news websites are registered under any legal authority in India. Such websites are promoting betting and gambling under the garb of news as surrogate advertising. The Advisories issued by the Ministry stated that since betting and gambling is illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements of these betting platforms as well as their surrogates are also illegal. The Advisories relied upon the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 and the IT Rules, 2021.”

    So, does this mean advertisements of these “news websites” stop? Does this also mean sports teams cannot have sponsorship agreements with the same “news websites?” Only time will tell.

    CHENNAI: Last Saturday, the Road Safety World Series concluded with India Legends coasting past Sri La­nka Legends. The Sachin Te­ndulkar-led side opted to bat first, making 195 before bowling out the opposition for 162. What, though, caught the eye in Ra­i­pur wasn’t the names emblazo­ned on the back of the players’ jerseys. It was what was written on the front of the players’ jerseys — 1XBET.

    After opting for a subtle ‘1xBAT professional sportsblog’ (surrogate advertising) in the form of a pop-up advertisement during the Asia Cup and other events, the betting company were one of the sponsors for as many as three teams at the Road Safety World Series. Apart from Sri Lanka Legends, they occupied substantial real estate on the jerseys of both South Africa Legends and West Indies Legends.

    Considering it’s predomina­ntly a betting company, 1XBET is already flouting a few laws by continuing to operate in the Indian market. Spooked by the number of advertisements taken out by betting companies, the Central government even issued multiple strongly-worded advisories but that has seemingly had no effect.

    In fact, the ecosystem doesn’t just exist but it thrives. That’s a claim made by 1Win’s affiliate page on Instagram. “This region (India) is relevant as it has a high interest in gambling,” one of their stories informs viewers. Other companies also exist in India via surrogate advertising.

    Nowhere is this more evident than in the Indian Super League (ISL), whose latest iteration began in Kochi on Friday. From cryptocurrency (socios.com) to sports betting news blogs (PariMatch News) to, even, seemingly a news website (Stake News) of stake.com (an online casino enterprise), they are all in India.

    Coming back to 1XBET, they are seemingly making a big play to grab even more eyeballs. Their latest move involves securing the services of Eva Elfie, an adult performer. On her Instagram page, Elfie posted a video of her promoting the company. “Bet you didn’t expect this!,” she posted. “I’m the new ambassador of @1xbeteng which means that there is a lot of cool stuff coming up. I can’t tell you everything now, but I’m sure that you gonna like it.”

    The focus on 1XBET is paramount because they have fallen foul of regulators worldwide. They were run out of UK partly ‘because of the use of pornography to promote its service,’ as football investigations website Josimar noted in an article. They also roped in the likes of World Cup winners Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, both of whom played in the India Legends side at the Road Safety World Series.

    This daily has learned that what 1XBET did with the three teams is outside the ambit of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). It’s up to the government to do something as this is a case of a sponsorship agreement.

    On Monday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a fresh advisory apropos betting companies.  “It had come to the notice of the Government that several sports channels on television, as well as on OTT platforms, have recently been showing advertisements of offshore online betting platforms as well as their surrogate news websites. The Advisories were supplemented with evidence which contained direct and surrogate advertisements of offshore betting platforms such as Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf 777, and 1xBet.

    “In the Advisories, the Ministry has informed that online offshore betting platforms are now using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise the betting platforms on digital media. In such cases, the Ministry has found that the logos of surrogate news websites bear striking resemblance to betting platforms. Moreover, the Ministry has stated that neither the betting platforms nor the news websites are registered under any legal authority in India. Such websites are promoting betting and gambling under the garb of news as surrogate advertising. The Advisories issued by the Ministry stated that since betting and gambling is illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements of these betting platforms as well as their surrogates are also illegal. The Advisories relied upon the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 and the IT Rules, 2021.”

    So, does this mean advertisements of these “news websites” stop? Does this also mean sports teams cannot have sponsorship agreements with the same “news websites?” Only time will tell.

  • MP High Court asks state to take concrete steps on online gaming, betting and gambling in three months

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to take concrete steps for regulating online gambling/gaming and allied activities within the next three months.

    While continuing the hearing in the matter related to the bail plea of Singrauli district resident Sanat Kumar Jaiswal, who is accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs 8.51 lakh from the grandfather’s bank account and losing it in IPL betting, the single judge bench of MP High Court in Jabalpur headed by Justice Vivek Agarwal gave three months to the state government to take concrete steps for regulating online gaming, gambling and betting.

    While directing the MP government to bring on record concrete/action taken report in three months, the HC listed the matter for next hearing on November 30.

    “In any case this issue having wider ramifications on the economic, physiological and physical health of youth of the country cannot wait for in inordinately long period, therefore, instead of six months’ time as prayed by the Principal Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh Department of Law and Legislative Affairs, three months’ time is granted to bring on record concrete/action taken report,” HC mentioned in its order on Monday.

    Importantly, the state government had sought six months from the HC in the matter, stating that after the court’s order in the present case in June 2022, the central government had convened a meeting of all the home secretaries of different states July 21 and now the matter is at the level of Inter State Advisory Committee to decide as to what steps are to be taken in regard to online gaming etc.

    BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to take concrete steps for regulating online gambling/gaming and allied activities within the next three months.

    While continuing the hearing in the matter related to the bail plea of Singrauli district resident Sanat Kumar Jaiswal, who is accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs 8.51 lakh from the grandfather’s bank account and losing it in IPL betting, the single judge bench of MP High Court in Jabalpur headed by Justice Vivek Agarwal gave three months to the state government to take concrete steps for regulating online gaming, gambling and betting.

    While directing the MP government to bring on record concrete/action taken report in three months, the HC listed the matter for next hearing on November 30.

    “In any case this issue having wider ramifications on the economic, physiological and physical health of youth of the country cannot wait for in inordinately long period, therefore, instead of six months’ time as prayed by the Principal Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh Department of Law and Legislative Affairs, three months’ time is granted to bring on record concrete/action taken report,” HC mentioned in its order on Monday.

    Importantly, the state government had sought six months from the HC in the matter, stating that after the court’s order in the present case in June 2022, the central government had convened a meeting of all the home secretaries of different states July 21 and now the matter is at the level of Inter State Advisory Committee to decide as to what steps are to be taken in regard to online gaming etc.