FairPlay, an illegal offshore gambling company which runs a surrogate brand FairPlay News, has onboarded Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez as its brand ambassador. The actress openly shared her excitement about the partnership despite the company being labelled as illegal by the government.

On her partnership with FairPlay, Fernandez said she believed that responsible gaming can be thrilling and exciting to say the least, and FairPlay was the best in the game. It is ironic given the fact that the company is not registered to operate in the country as well as provides betting services which is illegal.

Fernandez is already under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case involving Sukesh Chandrasekhar. She was detained back in 2021 by immigration authorities and is being investigated by the ED.

With already an investigation going on, the actress might face more trouble with her latest partnership with FairPlay as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has released advisories last year advising celebrities to not promote any gambling websites or their surrogates.

FairPlay is one of the biggest illegal offshore betting companies operating in India. The government has blocked several domains of the website, but the company keeps on changing the original URL in order to bypass the restriction.

The company has previously partnered with sports personalities such as Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Mithali Raj, Sunil Narine, and Eoin Morgan to promote themselves in India and abroad.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently banned several of these websites that have been operating illegally for a prolonged period of time.

A study from skill gaming body All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) revealed that these companies together spend around Rs 3500 crore on advertisement and promotions and another Rs 500 crore on celebrity endorsements to lure people to their betting platforms.