The ministry has issued an advisory pointing out a noticeable increase in the number of gambling and betting advertisements, especially during significant sporting events like cricket, keeping in mind that major tournaments like Asia Cup and World Cup 2023 are on the line.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (IB) adopted a hard stance by alerting newspapers, digital platforms, social media sites, and online advertising middlemen that they must refrain from promoting or advertising betting and gambling apps. This decision comes just a few days prior to the opening of the 2023 Asia Cup, an important international sporting event that will be jointly hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
This represents the fourth occurrence where the government has given such guidance, following similar recommendations in June and October of 2022, as well as in April 2023. The Ministry stressed that sponsoring betting and gambling apps is closely related to networks involved in money laundering, hence posing a possible threat to the country’s financial security. The advice additionally expresses worries that illicit monies could potentially be exploited for such advertising purposes.
“It may be noted that advertisements of gambling/betting platforms not only pose significant financial and socio-economic risk for consumers, especially the youth and children, but have linkages to money laundering networks, thereby threatening the financial security of the country,” the advisory said.
“These advisories have stated that betting and gambling was an illegal activity and hence advertisements/promotion of such activities directly or indirectly on any of the media platforms falls foul of the various statutes, including under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act 1978, etc,”
“Failure to adhere to this advisory may invite appropriate action from the Government under various statutes,” the advisory further said.
The much-awaited face-off between Pakistan and India is scheduled for September 2nd, taking place in Pallekele. Both teams are in the same group, along with Nepal, while the other group consists of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
