Indian social media influencers profited from gambling promotion

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Two social media influencers arrested in Rajkot over the weekend for promoting gambling earned hundreds of thousands of rupees, according to Indian police.

The accused, Dharmik Vagahani, 20, and Deep Goswami, 23, were arrested by Rajkot police after allegedly promoting gambling products through their Instagram accounts.

Goswami, who has 320,000 followers, and Vagahani, who has 954,000, are reported to have earned substantial sums from the activity.

According to police, preliminary investigations showed that Goswami had earned INR 750,000 (US$8,812) over the last six months.

The two created Instagram reels for online gambling platforms and were reportedly paid INR 7,000 (US$82) per reel. They also earned a fee every time one of their followers created a gambling account through links on their profiles. Both have been charged under Section 12(A) of the Gambling Act.

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In a briefing to media on Monday, the Deputy Commissioner of Police for Rajkot, Dr Parthrajsinh Gohil, reported that the city’s cybercrime social media monitoring team had received intelligence of social media influencers promoting gambling through their profiles.

Rajkot police confirmed that the gambling companies involved had been reaching out to influencers on Instagram and Telegram, offering commissions for the illegal promotions.