Digital Giants in the Crosshairs: ED Summons Google and Meta Over Betting App Probe

India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has intensified action against unlawful online sports betting platforms by serving summonses to Google and Meta officials to appear before it on July 21. The two firms are being probed under a massive investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to target the online promotion and financial transmission of betting apps.

Major Developments

ED accuses Meta and Google of facilitating access to illegal betting apps through paid advertising and platform exposure

The raid follows a series of other raids in Mumbai, during which the officials seized Rs 3.3 crore in unexplained cash, luxury cars, foreign exchange, and watches.

They are probing the white-label online betting sites such as VMoney, 11Starss, LotusBook, and GameBetLeague, which were run on profit-sharing models

Operational Connections in Question

VMoney and 11Starss owner Vishal Agnihotri is said to have transferred admin rights of LotusBook to Dhaval Jain, for a share of profit.

Jain and his business partner, John States alias Pandey, developed and sold white-label platforms to operate betting companies

Hawala operator Mayur Padya was reportedly operating cash-based fund transfers for these platforms

Celebrity Endorsements and Wider Audience

ED is also investigating the role of celebrities and influencers who could have promoted such apps knowingly or unknowingly

The agency is looking into how the sites avoided regulation by portraying themselves as skill-based games

Sources: ANI, The Hindu, India Today, Hindustan Times, Business Standard, Times of India, MSN, Moneycontrol, Rediff News