The ED is investigating more than a dozen cases linked to illegal gambling and betting platforms across the country, including the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) app whose main promoters hail from Chhattisgarh.The agency has alleged that illegal online betting and gambling platforms were cheating innocent people of their hard-earned money, and also laundering and evading taxes worth crores of rupees.The probe is being conducted under provisions of the PMLA and spans across multiple stakeholders, including app developers, media outlets, hawala operators and celebrity endorsers. The agency is trying to trace financial trails and potential ad monetisation linked to these betting entities.This is part of a broader crackdown by the ED, which began after evidence emerged of foreign-linked betting operations using Indian platforms for illegal transactions. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had earlier issued advisories warning digital platforms against airing betting-related ads. However, violations reportedly continued, prompting further scrutiny.So far, neither Google nor Meta has publicly commented on the summons or the investigation.The July 28 appearance is likely to be critical as the ED will examine whether the tech platforms had any awareness or control over the nature of the content they were monetising – and if any compliance gaps contributed to unlawful gains, the sources said.
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