Banned betting site Betway continues advertising in India with SonyLIV during The Ashes 2023

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SonyLiv, the official broadcaster for the telecast of The Ashes 2023 in India, has also onboarded a banned betting website Betway to specifically advertise to viewers in the country. Notably, The Ashes is the biggest and oldest cricketing rivalry played once every two years, and thus, fetches high viewership in India as well, even though the national team isn’t a part of it.

During Day 2 of the first Test of The Ashes 2023 between England and Australia, the banned websites’ logo was expressly displayed on the digital broadcasting app, whereas, the site isn’t a part of the official sponsors for the rivalry series. Notably, it is understood that the banned site isn’t a part of the official sponsors and thus, have partnered with the broadcaster SonyLiv to display the ads of their surrogate platform, especially for the Indian audience.

On visiting the surrogate website ‘betway scores’, players are immediately greeted with the option that redirects them to bet on matches with various incentives, despite the website claiming to be a sports news website.

Betway is among one of the several banned betting websites that are illegally operating in India. These websites do not have physical offices in India, and thus, do not pay taxes. They are also not registered to operate their business in the country.

The banned website, during the recently culminated IPL season, has been very active and posted countless promotional videos across social media with popular former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen. These short videos were displayed in a way that Pietersen predicted the various winners of the match to encourage his fans to bet on them too using betway.

Betway active in advertising throughout cricketing season

Apart from The Ashes 2023 advertisements, Betway has also been actively promoting in several print forms from popular news outlet in India. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have also released advisories regarding the same, but these adverts still pop up from time to time.

It is noteworthy to mention that apart from The Ashes 2023, Betway was the title sponsor for SA20 cricket league that took place earlier in 2023 and several participating franchises were owned by IPL teams, thereby catching a large part of the Indian audiences.

These ads usually have popular celebrities or local influencers to get as many people to sign up and bet on their illegal platform. Many false and unrealistic claims are also being presented at the time of advertising these platforms to lure people into betting, an illegal activity in the country.

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