The Supreme Court issued a notice to all state governments on Friday in response to public interest litigation (PIL), requiring strict regulation of online and offline betting applications.
The bench, composed of Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, also seeks other stakeholders named in the petition by Google India, Trai, Apple India, Dream11 Fantasy, Mobile Empier League, A23 Games, and other stakeholders.
The bench granted another two weeks for the center to submit its reply and scheduled its next hearing on August 18.
PIL submitted by missionary KA Paul urged the government to introduce a unified central law to prohibit or regulate betting and gambling activities. Paul highlighted the growing problem of celebrity recognition among top cricketers, actors and influential people, claiming they lure children and teenagers to bet.
“I represent millions of parents in the past few years. Only 1,023 people have committed suicide in Telangana. The positive advertising of celebrities has misled young people to gambling, pushing them to addiction and financial destruction,” Paul said.
The petitioner further claimed that unregulated gambling platforms were used as the frontier for money laundering and black money transactions, violating the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
