In a move to curb illegal online gambling, the Indian government reportedly has asked Google to stop displaying surrogate ads of overseas betting companies namely Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway and 1xBet in search results and YouTube.
According to reports, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has sent Google India a letter asking them to drop all advertising whether direct or surrogate from the above mentioned betting platforms immediately.
In October 2022, the I&B ministry issued a directive to digital news media and OTT platforms to refrain from carrying online betting advertisements.
The first directive was issued in this regard in June 2022 saying that gambling was illegal in most parts of the country. The directive called for restraint on the part of online news and OTT platforms to publish betting ads. It also asked print and electronic media to stop carrying betting ads.
