{"id":777029348,"date":"2025-07-22T10:22:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777029348"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:46:07","slug":"india-probes-celebrity-ties-to-suspected-illegal-betting-app-promotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-probes-celebrity-ties-to-suspected-illegal-betting-app-promotions","title":{"rendered":"India probes celebrity ties to suspected illegal betting app promotions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Film and television personalities are under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

India.- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned high-profile film actors and digital influencers in an investigation into the promotion of illegal online betting apps<\/a>. The probe, carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), centres on allegations that celebrities helped promote gambling platforms that may have violated the Public Gambling Act of 1867.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those called for questioning are well-known actors Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda<\/strong>, and Manchu Lakshmi<\/strong>, who are scheduled to appear before the ED between July 23 and August 13. They are part of a group of 29 public figures, also including actresses Nidhi Agarwal<\/strong>, Pranitha Subhash<\/strong>, and Ananya Nagella<\/strong>, named in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several television actors and online personalities, such as Sreemukhi<\/strong>, Shyamala<\/strong>, and Bayya Sunny Yadav<\/strong>, also appear on the ED\u2019s list. The investigation follows multiple FIRs filed in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, prompted by a complaint from a Hyderabad-based businessman, who alleged that celebrity-backed promotions were attracting lower and middle-income users to high-risk betting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint claimed the apps used celebrity influence to build trust among users. Representatives for Vijay Deverakonda say the actor only endorsed legally permitted skill-based games, and only in jurisdictions where such activities were allowed. Prakash Raj previously said he chose not to renew his promotional contract in 2017 after realising the potential ethical concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> India summons Google and Meta over illegal betting probe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Film and television personalities are under investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777029777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in India is investigating high-profile film and television personalities for promoting illegal online betting applications under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This probe, stemming from multiple FIRs, alleges that celebrity endorsements facilitated the promotion of platforms potentially violating the Public Gambling Act of 1867, attracting vulnerable users. Several prominent actors and digital influencers have been summoned for questioning.","focusai_entities":"Enforcement Directorate (ED), Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda, Manchu Lakshmi, Nidhi Agarwal, Pranitha Subhash, Ananya Nagella, Sreemukhi, Shyamala, Bayya Sunny Yadav, Google, Meta","focusai_location":"India, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.9), marketing_crm (0.95), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on operator licensing?","query":"How might this PMLA investigation into celebrity endorsements for illegal betting platforms influence future B2C licensing requirements and regulatory compliance frameworks for iGaming operators in India?"},{"label":"AML implications for payments?","query":"What are the specific AML implications for payment service providers and operators given the Enforcement Directorate's focus on the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in this celebrity betting promotion probe?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16334],"tags":[24634,58,4503,24748],"class_list":["post-777029348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-illegal-online-gambling","tag-india","tag-legal","tag-promotions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777029348"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777029372,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029348\/revisions\/777029372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777029777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777029348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777029348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777029348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}