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ADS PROMOTING ONLINE BETTING

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS | CENTRE ASKS PRINT, DIGITAL & ELECTRONIC MEDIA TO REFRAIN FROM ADS PROMOTING ONLINE BETTING | 15TH JUNE | HINDUSTAN TIMES

/ June, 2022, UPSC Daily Current Affairs

SYLLABUS SECTION:

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, the Union ministry of information and broadcasting asked print, digital and electronic media outlets to refrain from all such ADS PROMOTING ONLINE BETTING in the public interest ADS PROMOTING ONLINE BETTING.

  • It has also advised the online and social media, including online advertisement intermediaries and publishers, to not display such advertisements in India or target such advertisements towards the Indian audience.

MORE DETAILS:

  • Betting and gambling are illegal in most parts of the country and pose significant financial and socio-economic risks for consumers, especially youth and children.
  • Advertisements of online betting are often misleading and did not appear to be in strict conformity with
  • Consumer Protection Act 2019
  • Advertising Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995
  • Norms of Journalistic Conduct laid down by the Press Council of India under the Press Council Act, 1978

REGULATION OF ONLINE GAMING IN INDIA:

  • Betting and gambling are mentioned in the Seventh Schedule List III of the Constitution.
  • Lotteries organized by the Government of India or the Government of a State fall under the union list of the 7th schedule of the Constitution.
  • The Supreme Court in March 2022, ruled that state legislature has the right to impose a tax on lotteries conducted by other States within its jurisdiction since ‘lotteries’ is a “species of gambling activity”.
  • It gives states exclusive power (state subject) over their regulation.
  • Except for Goa, Sikkim, and Daman, every state of India explicitly prohibits any sort of gambling and betting.
  • However, regulations of ‘online’ betting and gambling regulations create kind of confusion in India.
  • Sikkim was the first state to legalize and Telangana was the first one to ban it.
CENTRES’ RECENT STEPS RELATED TO ONLINE GAMING:
  • Recently, the Centre set up a committee to regulate online gaming and to identify a ministry to oversee it. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) council has found merit in imposing 28% GST on online gaming.

At present they don’t attract any tax resulting in a huge loss to the public exchequer.