CHENNAI: While the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (TNOGA) is cracking down on online betting platforms, several betting apps from foreign countries are acting as the main sponsors for multiple teams in the ongoing Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) through surrogate advertising, with minor tweaks to the names of their apps.
The betting apps which are sponsoring teams include dafabet, 1xBet, MELBET, Cricadda, Pin-up Cricket, JSK1, etc. In a bid to circumvent regulations, these apps are being promoted through surrogate advertising.
For instance, 1xBet is advertised as 1xBat, dafabet as dafanews, MELBET as MELBAT, Cricadda as Cricadda news, JSK1 as JSK1 news, among others. The apps are mainly visible on the team jerseys while some are displayed on the ground. TNPL is an eight-team franchise-based cricket contest organised by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
‘Unless the centre clarifies on surrogate ads of betting apps, we can’t stop them’
International and popular IPL cricketers from Tamil Nadu like R Ashwin, Sai Kishore, Shahrukh Khan and T Natarajan are participating in this year’s edition. It is to be noted that incidentally, in a May 30 media release, TNPL and TNCA had denied rumours of 1xBat being signed as a sponsor and stated that the league has no association, direct or indirect, with 1XBat sporting lines.
Despite online betting being banned in TN, some of these apps are working, unlike certain opinion trading apps, which recently took evasive action and geo-fenced their applications after receiving show cause notices from TNOGA.
While a legal expert termed them as “offshoots of traditional gambling applications”, a senior TNPL official contended that there is no explicit ban from the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) against surrogate advertisement of betting applications. “Unless the GOI gives a clarification on this, we cannot stop it. Surrogate advertising of betting apps is prevalent in other Indian sporting leagues as well,” the TNPL official said.
Sources in the TNOGA said they have been apprised of the situation, are conducting a detailed review of the betting apps being advertised in the TNPL. Recently, the authority had acted against a call taxi service provider in Chennai, which directly advertised betting apps on its vehicles. TNIE has repeatedly higlighted the usage of surrogate advertising in sports.
When contacted, legal experts told TNIE that surrogate advertising of online betting apps is a violation under the IT Rules, 2021. However, offshore betting apps take advantage of the fact that there is no central regulatory body that decides if it is permissible or not, leaving each state to enact their own law and rules.
Gowree Gokhale, a lawyer, said that under the current laws, TNOGA has the powers to take action against online gambling providers and initiate complaints against advertisements of such products.
Though online betting is banned in Tamil Nadu, online marketing content in favour of gambling apps stress that there is no omnibus central regulation restricting the online betting.