Ahead of Asia Cup cricket tournament, government warns against gambling advertisements

Ahead of mega sporting events such as Asia Cup and World Cup cricket tournaments, the government on Friday warned media outlets against publishing or displaying advertisements of online betting platforms, failing which they would face legal action.

In an advisory issued to newspapers, television channels, digital media and social media platforms, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asked them to immediately refrain from showing advertisements/promotional content of betting and gambling platforms in any form whatsoever, failing which the government would be constrained to take appropriate action under various statutes.

The advisory stated that a spike in gambling and betting advertisements had been observed during major sporting events, including cricket tournaments.

It noted that an important international sporting event was beginning in a few days from now, an apparent reference to the Asia Cup cricket tournament beginning August 30 in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"It may be noted that advertisements of gambling/betting platforms not only pose significant financial and socio-economic risk for consumers, especially the youth and children, but have linkages to money laundering networks, thereby threatening the financial security of the country," the advisory said.

The ministry had issued similar advisories at least on three earlier occasions - in June and October last year and in April this year.

"These advisories have stated that betting and gambling was an illegal activity and hence advertisements/promotion of such activities directly or indirectly on any of the media platforms falls foul of the various statutes, including under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act 1978, etc," according to an official statement.