By Sidhima Choudhary
On the account of a money laundering investigation, Suresh Raina, a former Indian cricketer appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday. The investigation is linked to an illegal betting platform 1XBet. Amidst the rising online betting cases on cricket matches, this summon comes as a crackdown on illicit online betting networks linked to IPL matches.
Suresh Naina, a 38-year-old ex cricketer is alleged to be the brand ambassador of the illegal online gambling app 1XBet. During the interrogation, the ED seeked to require answers from him, establishing his association with the app.
The probe recorded Raina’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The federal agency further called Google and Meta representatives for questioning as a part of the investigation. Whereas, on Tuesday, the ED department also operated a multi-state search for a similar investigation against Parimatch, an online betting app.
Apart from the 1XBet, Ed is also investigating other online betting/money laundering apps like Lotus65, FairPlay etc. Earlier in June, former cricketers Yuvraj Singh & Harbhajan Singh and bollywood actors— Urvashi Rautela and Sonu Sood were also questioned by the ED, regarding their endorsements towards such apps.
According to a news report in NDTV, in India, illegal online gambling networks are worth Rs 8.3 lakh crore and are growing yearly at the rate of 30 per cent. It further costs Rs 27,000 crore of taxes to the government, every year.
Whereas, a Deccan Herald report states the Online betting app in India is projected to be worth over 100 billion USD. Around 22 crore Indians are using such online betting apps out of which half are regular users of such apps.
Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology directed the intermediaries to restrict unregistered all Indian and offshore online gaming platforms as it violates the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act.