Madras HC Sends Notices to Saurav Ganguly & Virat Kohli For Endorsing Fantasy Gaming Apps

Indian cricket was delivered a double whammy on Tuesday, November 3 when the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court issued notices to Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and BCCI Chief and former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, for their involvement in online sports app advertisements. Kohli has been a brand ambassador of the Mobile Premier League (MPL) since March 2019, while Ganguly joined My11Circle in May, the same year.

The Bench of Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice B. Pugalendhi has also issued notices to actors Prakash Raj, Tammana Bhatia among others. Notably, this order comes in a Petition, which has been moved in the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court by one Mohammed Rizvi alleging that after losing money in such apps, some youth died by suicide in various parts of India.

The plea states, “Online games groups are working against the sovereignty of India. Both the Central and State Governments are afraid to take action against the said online game groups. The Governments have not taken any steps to investigate the source of funds and Heads quarters, Origin of Nation. The Online Games Groups for their personal benefit misusing the young population of India. Hence, it is just and necessary to conduct a detailed probe in the above matter and ban online games, erred groups, Website and Social Network.”

“The television channels and social media networks airing the advertisement for promoting Online Games and Gambling, the 10th (Virat Kohli) and 11th (Saurav Ganguly) Respondents are Famous Celebrity Star in the Indian Cricket Teams. And 12th to 15th Respondents (Prakash Raj, Tamannaah Bhatia, Rana Daggubati and Sudeep) are stars in the Cine field,” the plea mentioned.

The plea further added, “The 10th to 15th Respondents are promoting and endorsing unethical immoral Online Gambling, using their familiarities to promote Online Gambling. And they are harvesting money from Online Gambling Business. The 10th to 15th Respondents hook innocent youngsters to play Online Gambling Games. They are encouraging Online Gambling. And they are spread over the poison seed through their advertisement.”

Numerous online fantasy sports platforms have witnessed a massive user engagement ever since the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) made its return earlier this year in September. Most of the online applications request users to pick 11 players, including captain and vice-captain following a free registration. The registered users earn points based on the performances of the players they have picked on the app ahead of the game.

This action of the Madras High Court comes just days after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in a written representation to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad requested the latter to direct all internet service providers (ISPs) to block 132 gambling websites presently accessible from the states.

The status of the online gaming industry has been on shaky grounds for a while now, and this latest news is also a stumbling block for the domain. The future of the industry seems uncertain for the time being.