Influencers and endorsers in India have been sternly warned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) against promoting illegal offshore online betting sites, Gambling News reported March 22.
The advisory noted how the country’s impressionable youth can be harmed financially and in other ways by online gambling, especially gambling addiction. But it included all consumers.
The advisory came as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season was set to begin on March 22.
Social media platforms were also advised to educate their users about not publishing such content.
India’s IT Act 2000 immunizes platforms from liability from third-party content hosted on them, but it also requires such platforms to take action when they learn of illegal activities. Failing to do so can strip them of their immunity under the Consumer Protection Act of 2019.
This warning was endorsed by Roland Landers, chief executive officer of the All India Gaming Federation. He said it was necessary to prevent celebrities from being associated with black-market websites, the Economic Times reported. Landers declared that such “anti-national” platforms threaten the country’s economy and social fabric.
Landers took the opportunity to distinguish between legitimate, legal Indian gaming operators, who offer consumer protections, and the gray market sites that do not.
Previously the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) said it was concerned about celebrity endorsements of gambling platforms.
In a separate but related development, India has begun moving away from the self-regulation of online gaming. Asia Gaming Brief March 25 reported that National Law University (NLU) Delhi will soon recommend major changes to the regulation of online gambling to the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The Ministry has begun moving toward proposing a regulatory entity to oversee the industry in India, which has grown rapidly to become a $3 billion market. There are an estimated 568 million gamers and 9.5 billion gaming app downloads in the world’s most populous country.
The Economic Times reported that NLU Delhi has been working with the eGaming Federation (EGF) to help in creating such regulations. There have also been various discussions with stakeholders to get input on formulating regulations.
The government initially proposed self-regulatory bodies, but it dropped the idea early this year.
The industry itself has been clambering for regulations to distinguish what is allowed and what is considered gambling. Companies that include Dream11, Mobile Premier League, Deltatech Gaming, Nazara, and Games24x7, have concerns about money laundering and high taxation.
