India asks Google to stop using surrogate ads of betting firms

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India asks Google to stop using surrogate ads of betting firms

The Mint reported on Wednesday that the Indian government has asked Google not to display surrogate ads of overseas betting companies.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcast asked the company to immediately remove advertising from betting platforms like Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway in search results and YouTube, in a letter sent to Alphabet Inc. last week.

After our last advisory on October 3, TV channels and OTT Over-the top players stopped showing surrogate ads of online betting firms, but it was brought to our notice that many of these ads are running on YouTube and Google. "We have asked Google to stop this immediately," a senior ministry official told Mint.

This comes two months after India asked broadcasters and video streaming services to stop advertising online betting.

In October, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a bill to prohibit online gambling and regulate online games in the state.

The AIGF, the All India Gaming Federation, had urged the government of Tamil Nadu to reconsider the ordinance passed by the state to ban online skill games. The ordinance was called unconstitutional The gaming body said the ordinance disregards six decades of established legal jurisprudence.