New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday recorded the assertion of cricketer Suresh Raina in reference to its bigger cash laundering probe towards a number of unlawful on-line betting platforms, which use a number of platforms for surrogate commercials and accumulate funds from their customers, officers stated.
The previous India participant reached the ED headquarters at round 11 am and was examined until night.
Raina’s assertion was recorded underneath the prevention of cash laundering act (PMLA) for endorsing a sports activities betting app, which indulged in unlawful practices.
An officer, with out naming the participant, stated “one other former Indian cricketer has additionally been requested to look earlier than the company.”
ED is looking a number of celebrities to know their hyperlinks with the betting apps, any endorsement price earned and the mode of communication between them.
Earlier, the company had known as the representatives of Google and Meta for questioning as a part of this probe.
The monetary crimes probe company is probing a number of unlawful on-line betting platforms and has questioned tech corporations, media homes’ representatives who’ve acquired cash within the type of commercials from them.
A number of platforms internet hosting unlawful betting and playing hyperlinks, together with cases of commercials positioned for them on varied social media retailers and app shops, are underneath the ED scanner.
In 2023, the Union ministry of data and broadcasting issued 4 advisories to newspapers, broadcast information channels, leisure channels, publishers of on-line information and present affairs content material, on-line commercial intermediaries (like Google and Fb), and social media platforms to not promote on-line betting platforms.
Regardless of these directions from the Centre, eminent personalities within the subject of leisure and sports activities endorsed them. These actors and sportspersons are additionally underneath the ED’s scanner they usually may very well be summoned quickly, in line with an ED officer.
Based on the knowledge gathered by ED over the previous a number of months, a number of betting platforms, which have been banned over time, nonetheless run their operations by altering names and are promoted by celebrities and social media influencers.
“These platforms are in violation of a number of legal guidelines and instructions by the Indian authorities, together with tax evasion, cash laundering, and Overseas Alternate Administration Act (FEMA) as cash is transferred in a foreign country illegally. It’s estimated that round 220 million Indian customers are presently engaged on varied betting apps, and 110 million of those are common customers,” stated the officer.
In simply the primary three months of 2025, greater than 1.6 billion visits had been recorded on unlawful betting web sites or apps and it’s suspected that the web betting market in India may be price round $100 million, the primary ED officer stated. “The estimates additionally counsel that high betting apps are evading ₹27,000 crore in taxes yearly,” the officer stated.
The federal government has issued 1,524 blocking orders towards unlawful playing web sites and cell apps between 2022 and June 2025, as revealed in a response from the ministry of electronics and knowledge know-how (MeitY) within the ongoing monsoon session.
