The High Court on Tuesday asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission chairman to block access to all visible online gambling websites so that gamblers cannot use such platforms.

The court also asked the Bangladesh Bank governor to issue directives on all the mobile financial service providers, including bKash, Nagad and Rocket, so that the gamblers cannot make transaction using their payment gateways.

The bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury issued the fresh directive during hearing a public interest litigation writ petition jointly filed by Miftaul Alam and Sumit Kumar Sarkar in December 2022.

The petitioners’ lawyer Md Kamal Hossain Meahzi said that Gambling was banned in Bangladesh, but various online gambling advertisements, including 1xbet, Melbet, Baji, Baji Sports, Betwinner, 10Cric, Bet365, BJ Baji, continued to be aired on various news portals, television channels, especially sports channels and social media, the lawyer said.

He said that college-university students were getting involved in gambling avoiding the all eyes including their parents.

He argued that the transactions of these gambling were being made through payment gateways. Incidents like money laundering are also taking place through it, he added.