There is a growing concern in India about the involvement of illegal offshore betting companies in various sports leagues despite repeated government warnings. These unauthorized betting brands often find ways to resurface with new domain names even after the government takes measures to block them.Â
A recent example is Mumbai Indians, a highly successful IPL team, which featured a surrogate betting brand, 1xBAT, in a full-page advertisement. The ad was published in the Times of India on 19th February to celebrate MI Emirates’ win in the ILT20 championship, in which 1xBAT was shown as a principal partner of MI.
Unfortunately, this trend is not limited to cricket only but also other sports leagues such as the Premier Volleyball League, Indian Super League, Pro-Kabaddi League, and Ultimate Tennis League. Surrogate brand Dafa News is connected with Prime Volleyball League (as an associate sponsor), and PariMatch News is advertised by FC Goa (as the principal sponsor),
Eight out of twelve teams in the ISL and ten out of twelve teams in the Pro-Kabaddi League are promoting surrogate betting brands like MelBet, Stake News, and 1xBAT. Interestingly, Dafanews and Parimatch Sports sponsored a domestic T20 cricket tournament in Karnataka last year. This involvement is a serious concern about the influence of these platforms in sports events.
What’s surprising is that these surrogate betting brands are promoted alongside reputed sponsors like Indian Oil and State Bank Of India. Also, they get a platform to attract audiences with other brands like PayTm, Kingfisher, and Bisleri. The strategy of these illegal betting portals is to appear legitimately by featuring alongside reputed Indian brands and to create trust among the audiences.
The government of India had advised advertising agencies in 2022 not to allow surrogate betting brands to attract Indian audiences. However, it is unfortunate that some reputable Indian brands contribute to the promotion of betting by featuring alongside these surrogate betting brands.
Also, India’s leading media houses continue to accept advertisements from offshore betting companies despite being aware of the government’s guidelines against such promotions. This raises questions as to why reputable brands and leading media houses are compromising their ethical standards.
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