Betting ads featuring celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, Badshah, Jacqueline Fernandez, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard have found a new platform on billboards, metro rails and housing society lifts, prompting the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take action by issuing a warning and urging all chief secretaries of states to tackle the rise in gambling and betting.
The development comes in weeks after Storyboard18 did a deep dive on such ads taking over Indian media.
Read More: Offshore betting firms flood Indian media with illegal ads ft. Bollywood stars, sports legends
In the letter addressed to the chief secretaries of states, Apurva Chandra, secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting lists the past advisories issued by the ministry on betting ads in traditional media. He says, “While such advertisements have been largely curbed in mainstream print, electronic and digital media, it has now come to the notice that some betting and gambling platforms have started using outdoor media such as hoardings, posters, banners, auto rickshaw branding, etc. to promote their websites/apps in India. Accordingly, it is requested that appropriate action may be taken to curb outdoor advertisements of betting and gambling platforms.”
According to the numbers shared by TAM with Storyboard18, betting ads grew 10 times on digital platforms and 27 times on television media in 2022. Fairplay News topped digital medium and Parimatch News on TV.
The mode of operation of these offshore betting and gambling apps is similar to surrogate advertising. These companies are often disguised as content platforms and ads feature a QR code. Once you scan the QR code it takes you to a WhatsApp business account that gives you access to sites, with usernames and passwords from where one can place bets.
While these companies market themselves year-round, interestingly, the Indian Premier League is the peak season of their advertising efforts.
Media buying experts estimate that nearly Rs 2,000 crore has been spent on marketing activities by these companies across various platforms. A large part of this spend is being used on outdoor ads. For instance, 1XBet that uses Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard creatives across outdoor inventory and auto rickshaw branding is running a 30-day campaign across four areas in Delhi-NCR.