Yesterday, while reading the newspaper, I came across a news item that said, “ Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids FAIRPLAY offices all over India.” I did not know what this Fairplay group was or what its activities were. Then, I found out from the internet that Fairplay is a Gaming (Betting ) app that is part of the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) platform. This group’s illegal online betting activities have been under the radar of the ED since 2022.
Is Fairplay App legal in India?
In December 2023, the Central government banned 174 betting and gaming apps. Some of the apps on the banned list were Mahadev, Parimatch, Fairplay, 1XBET, Lotus365, Dafabet, and Betwaysatta.
In March 2024, there was a suicide case reported which was linked to online betting debts. The unregulated gambling industry is always in spotlight. The online betting industry in India, as per reports, is worth an estimated Rs 8,20,000 Cr.
With no definitive law governing online betting, it is largely a grey area legally,, the legal expert say “ Online betting is currently operational in India. When it comes to their legality, one cannot give simple yes or no answer.
Multiple laws come into place such as the Consumer Protection Act and IT Act. One of the primary acts dealing with this is the Public Gaming Act Act 1867. The law is subject to regulation by each state.
Now coming to ED raids involving Fairplay offices:
This case involves the illegal broadcasting of IPL matches and the acceptance of bets on the recently concluded Lok Sabha election result. Fairplay, a subsidiary of the Mahadev group is accused of siphoning off the money it generated through illegal betting to abroad with the help of book entry operators and over 400 accounts opened in the name of shell companies.
As per ED, Fairplay collected funds through various bogus/shell bank accounts, which in turn were layered through complex web of bank accunts of shell entities and then accumulated in pharma companies involved in bogus billing. The fund from these companies have been siphoned off to overseas shell entities based out of Hong Kong, China, and Dubai. More than 400 bank accounts of shell entities were found to be used for these purposes, which were under examination along with trailing/utilization of funds collected from the public by Fairplay.
Many celebrities had promoted the Fairplay gaming-betting app and the ED is investigating them also in this case. The ED had registered a money laundering case against Fairplay for illegally streaming IPL matches last year causing over Rs 100 Cr loss to the Viacom18 group. The money laundering case is based on the FIR registered by the Maharashtra Cyber police on the complaint of Viacom18 group. The cyber police is also conducting a parallel investigation into this case.
In the complaint, Viacom18 named eight companies along with seven online apps for illegally streaming its content. The streaming rights of IPL matches were with Viacom18, which was pay-to-watch content and subscription-based. However Fairplay had streamed those matches on its website and had illegally accepted bets from its users. Fairplay had put hoarding across the city, publishing its product though celebrities last year.
The ED has been investing Fairplay since January , but Fairplay continued its activities and were engaged in accepting bets on the Lok Sabha election result through the group app.
The actual problem is that India is not having proper online/offline gambling and betting laws, each state has different laws pertaining to this. Only three states, Goa, Daman & Sikkim allow casinos. Even new criminal laws Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) is not very clear on this.
The fact is that, the Indian love gambling and betting, and legally they are not allowed in India. It is high time that government of India legalise gambling, the illegal gambling/betting market may be worth many lakhs of Crore Rupees. If govt legalizes this they can start taxing income from gambling/betting. Presently only betting on horse racing is allowed in the country, and govt collects tax from that.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
29th August 2024