NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday questioned former international cricketer Suresh Raina and recorded his statement under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of its probe into a case linked to sports betting app (application) named , sources said.
The 38-year-old sportsperson had arrived at the ED headquarters here at 11 am and was seen interacting with CISF personnel and Enforcement Directorate (ED) staff outside the agency’s premises.
The sources said that the agency’s officials got his statement recorded under provisions of the PMLA as part of the investigation linked to a sports betting app (application) named 1xBet.
Raina is understood to have been linked to the app through certain endorsements and the ED probe team wants to understand his links with this app, any endorsement fee earned and the mode of communication between the two parties, the sources said.
It is to be noted that the ED had recently called representatives of Google and Meta for questioning as part of this probe. It also conducted multi-state searches on Tuesday in connection with a similar investigation against an online betting app named Parimatch.
The agency is probing multiple such cases involving illegal betting apps that are alleged to have duped numerous people and investors worth crores of rupees or have evaded a huge amount of taxes.
According to estimates by market analysis firms and probe agencies, there are about 22 crore Indian users in various such online betting apps out of which half (about 11 crore) are regular users. The online betting app market in India is worth over USD 100 billion which is growing at the rate of 30 percent, according to a reported assessment made by experts.
More to these, the government, while responding to a question in Parliament, informed that it has issued 1,524 orders from 2022 till June 2025 to block online betting and gambling platforms.
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada told Lok Sabha in a written reply that the Directorate General of GST Intelligence headquarters is empowered as an appropriate government agency under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) and the IGST Act to direct intermediaries to block unregistered online money gaming platforms, including offshore online money gaming platforms, violating the IGST Act. He had said the suppliers of online money gaming are also being regulated under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (IGST Act).
“Under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, 'Betting and gambling' is a State subject (entry 34 of the List II). Therefore, as per the provisions of article 246 read with article 162 of the Constitution, State Legislatures have the power to legislate on matters related to betting and gambling,” the Minister had said.