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The standards overseer for India’s advertising industry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three gaming trade groups to strike back against illegal gambling promotions by foreign and local operators.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a non-profit formed in 1985 to advance industry self-regulation, signed the document with the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), the skill gaming industry’s trade association, as well as the Federation of India Fantasy Sports and the E-Gaming Federation.
The agreement, which enhances detection and criminal referral of gambling and betting advertisements benefitting foreign companies, came into force on January 2, according to an ASCI statement on Tuesday (February 18).
“The MoU between ASCI and the online gaming industry federations establishes a framework to address these challenges through a special monitoring cell that will focus on screening and reporting offshore betting and gambling advertisements to the concerned ministries,” the statement said.
“The cell will also screen and process real-money gaming advertisements that are found to be in potential violation of the ASCI Code.
“The partnership aims to surface illegal ads and also strengthen compliance of the RMG [real-money gaming] industry.”
The tie-up between the advertising industry self-regulator and the three gaming lobbies marks a recovery of gaming industry attempts to self-regulate, following the central government’s decision to suspend and then shelve a comprehensive programme of self-regulation for the sector.
Finding common cause against illegal ads also marks a restoration of unity for the gaming sector’s skill games, e-games and fantasy sports segments after their trade groups had previously failed to secure self-regulatory status amid a lack of corporate enthusiasm and occasional animosity over shared legal risk.
The ASCI said on Tuesday that it reported 1,336 illegal ads by foreign operators to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting between April 2023 and March 2024, then another 413 ads after the MOU came into effect.
It added that it referred 12 potentially illegal RMG ads in the earlier period, followed by 492 cases of the same following the MOU start date.
The RMG ads appear to benefit local companies but breach ASCI guidelines on RMG advertising. The big jump in reports since last month suggests that the agreement is already having an outsized impact on local grey zone operators compared with foreign interests.
“Indian consumers are exposed to numerous ads of offshore betting and gambling companies that have no accountability in India,” ASCI chief executive and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said in its statement.
“Several Indian celebrities too have been a part of such advertisements.
“Since gambling ads are prohibited in most parts of the country, their large-scale presence is a breach of the law. ASCI would like to surface such advertising to the regulators for necessary action.”
Indian central and regional governments have struggled for years to get a grip on widespread gambling advertising, with high-profile sportsmen, entertainers and actors among the celebrities promoting illegal products through streetside billboard advertising and other media.
