© Provided by The Indian Express

The Centre has written to all state governments to take action against betting and gambling advertisements in outdoor spaces, including hoardings and banners. A letter in this regard was sent on Tuesday by Union Information & Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra to chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories, officials say.

Just last month, ahead of the Indian Premier League season, the I&B Ministry had issued a fresh advisory to all media organisations — print, television and digital — against running ads for online betting and gambling platforms.

However, officials add that 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.

It has now been requested that appropriate action may be taken to curb outdoor advertisements of such platforms, the letter says. Officials say that states have been asked to crack down on space selling agencies in this regard, who channelise such ads for display at banners and hoardings.

According to the advisories issued last year by the ministry, betting and gambling were illegal in India, and hence, direct or surrogate advertisements of such activities were in violation of the rules.