Lotus365, an illegal betting website, who recently promoted themselves as ‘first legal licensed and certified’ company, is again promoting the brand thorough celebrity and influencer endorsements. This time around, the betting firm released a campaign with Nidhhi Agerwal and Priyanka Jawalkar.

Many of the popular celebrities were previously spotted promoting Lotus365, which included the likes of Urvashi Rautela, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Kriti Kharbanda. Along with them, the brand also uses popular social media influencers to lure in users on the platform.

The Central Govt. recently banned over 100 betting and gambling websites, this wave of ban also included the original domain for Lotus365 website. Since then, the company has been using alternate domains and mirror website.

This is not the only website that lures in users through false claims. Other infamous offshore websites like FairPlay and 1XBET also uses adverts on similar terms. While the advertisements through TVs and OTTs have slowed down, a total halt for these is yet to be seen.

In response to a letter by technology and gaming lawyer Jay Sayta regarding the rise in gambling apps, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) revealed that they are aware of the situation and currently working on a roadmap to regulate the industry.

The government have made some big moves in this regard, starting with assigning MeitY as the nodal ministry for “Matters relating to online gaming” and adding “e-Sports as part of multi-sports events” under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Following that, MeitY released the draft rules to regulate online gaming and held a discussion with various industry experts, stakeholders, gamers, parents, and others to make a proper set of rules with minimum loopholes for proper regulation. The rules are yet to be finalized and will hopefully also address these illegal gambling firms.