Indian Government Urges Local Media to Stop Advertising Offshore Betting
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India’s governmental department empowered to oversee the country’s media industries, has called for news outlets, TV stations, and online content creators to resist permitting offshore operators to advertise via their respective communication channels.
The move comes as India’s legislature register their concerns regarding the impact of problem gambling, particularly amongst the younger demographic, citing harmful betting behaviours as a current considerable risk in many communities across the country. There is an extremely limited number of Indian states who have introduced a legalized gaming sector, and therefore the government perceives the advertisement of online betting platforms to be as equally illegal as the activities of those operating sportsbooks and iGaming platforms in India’s non-regulated spaces.
The ministry referenced a number of examples whereby offshore gambling firms had utilized local media outlets to advertise their product, with betting giants Parimatch and Betway named amongst those showcasing their product on Indian servers. The role of ‘direct-to-consumer’ offerings was also mentioned in dispatches, with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime also prohibited from harbouring gambling adverts.
This latest directive is harnessed through a combination of established regulatory controls, with guidance notes published in the Consumer Protection Act (2019), Cable TV Network Regulation Act (1995) and the IT Rules (2021) seemingly serving to endorse the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s approach.
Back in June, the government issued a similar advisory measure, which urged locally based companies to conversely not feature content or marketing messages on gaming sites.
