India has asked Google not to show surrogate ads for betting companies in other countries, the Mint newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing a person in the ministry of information and broadcasting who was aware of the situation.
According to a report, a letter sent last week to Alphabet Inc.’s Google India (GOOGL.O) asked the company to immediately stop all advertising, direct or indirect, from betting platforms like Fairplay, PariMatch, and Betway in search results and on YouTube.
Reuters reported on December 4 that a government document and three sources said that India plans to regulate all real-money online games. This is because the prime minister’s office rejected a proposal to only regulate games of skill and leave out games of chance.
“After our last warning on October 3, TV channels and OTT (over-the-top) players stopped showing surrogate ads for online betting companies. However, it was brought to our attention that many of these ads are still running on YouTube and Google. “We told Google to stop doing this right away,” a senior ministry official told Mint.
Related: Following an antitrust ruling, Google stopped implementing its own billing system in India.
In a draught report seen by Reuters in September, a government panel said that India should set up a regulatory body to decide whether online games are based on skill or luck, block formats that aren’t allowed, and be stricter with gambling sites.
