Time could be running out for gambling operators promoting their services on illegal video streaming sites, as dodgy operators are exposed around the world.

Thai police take action

According to the Bangkok Post, last week Thai police arrested the administrator of movies2free.com – a major illegal video streaming site, that was found to be earning substantial revenues, amounting to around US$165,000 per month, promoting over 20 internationally licensed online gambling operators.

The site was said to be hosting more than 3,000 pirated movies and was attracting around 10 million views daily – making it one of the country’s top 15 most visited sites.

Apparently, Thai authorities took action after complaints from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) – an organisation which is now clearly scrutinising the online gambling industry. In September, the MPA issued a report that specifically named 1xBet as one of the worst offenders.

movies2free.com – the site found to be promoting over 20 licensed gambling operators

Disgraced 1xBet forced out of UK

The news comes just a few months after 1xBet’s dramatic retreat from the UK after an explosive Sunday Times investigation revealed the operator had been flouting all kinds of laws and rules, including advertising on illegal video sharing sites (read more).

That debacle saw some of the most respected English Premier League football clubs get caught up in the scandal, with Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea all being sponsored by 1xBet, and forced to rapidly distance themselves from the disgraced operator (read more).

Illustrating the sheer scale of the problem, 1xBet was ranked as Russia’s third largest online video advertiser as recently as summer 2019, and had pushed things as far as blatantly embedding its logos on the screens of illegal content.

However, the combined pressure of scrutiny by international media, and legal and enforcement action by rights holders, law enforcement, search engines and internet providers, is starting to have an effect – as demonstrated by 1xBet’s panicked retreat from the UK and last week’s action in Thailand.

AYO.NEWS says:

It really does beggar belief that operators like 1xBet thought they would get away with such blatantly illegal and immoral marketing. And, given the apparent size of the problem, we wouldn’t be surprised if several more major operators are exposed and forced to flee from various markets.

Surely, the activities operators like 1xBet have been engaging in, being so easily provable, have set the scene for retrospective legal action to be taken – so it’s truly mind boggling that any operators still think it’s worth the risk to continue advertising on illegal platforms.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.