Proposal to Form Central Integrated Platform to Curb Online Gambling, Betting, and Pornography Sites

A proposal has been made to establish a central platform by integrating mobile phones, SIM cards, MFS accounts, national identity verification, and website operations to block online gambling, betting, and pornography sites through coordination among all stakeholders.

Online gambling and betting activities are rapidly increasing across websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms, leading to money laundering abroad and posing a threat to the younger generation. To address the issue, a discussion meeting was held on Tuesday (November 4) at the BTRC building in Dhaka with representatives from the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and ICT, BTRC, Election Commission, Bangladesh Bank, intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, mobile operators, and mobile financial service providers. The proposal was adopted at the meeting.

The information was disclosed in a press release.

Fayez Ahmed Tayyeb, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser on Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Affairs, said that the national ID, SIM number, and mobile financial account of individuals will be cross-verified to prevent online fraud, scams, and gambling.

He also mentioned that actions are being taken in coordination with the Ministry of Information to block gambling-related content on online news portals. A central platform will ensure combined efforts to maintain social stability, prevent youth degradation, and curb money laundering. Individuals accessing betting sites through mobile internet will be identified, and suspicious MFS transactions will be recorded in a database.

BTRC Chairman Major General Md. Emdad Ul Bari (Retd.) urged BTRC, law enforcement agencies, mobile financial service providers, and Bangladesh Bank to work jointly. He said that BTRC and Bangladesh Bank are developing a Subscriber Data Verification Platform (SDVP) to detect gambling and financial fraud.

He added that reducing the number of active SIMs and enforcing the NEIR system will help decrease gambling activities.

Election Commission representatives said that the EC and BTRC have jointly initiated a platform to prevent duplication by mapping smart and old ID cards.

Representatives from mobile financial service providers stated that a crawling engine is being developed to detect gambling activities. They said that new gambling-linked accounts are regularly being closed, and related national ID numbers are being blacklisted.

They also mentioned that top gambling sites use advanced AI links and conceal IP addresses using VPNs to avoid monitoring. Launching a central portal to share blacklisted SIMs and NIDs across platforms will significantly reduce crime.

DGFI representatives emphasized forming an effective committee led by BTRC to coordinate anti-gambling measures.

NSI representatives informed that, apart from local networks, groups based in the Middle East are running call centers abroad to promote online gambling and betting. They recommended enhancing ISP operators’ capacity to detect harmful content and raising public awareness through collaboration with all stakeholders.

Bangladesh Bank stated that integrating SIMs, national IDs, and MFS accounts could help prevent up to 80 percent of gambling and financial fraud-related crimes.

Mobile operators said they are blocking harmful content as per their technical capacity and are working to enhance their technological infrastructure to combat online gambling and pornography more effectively.

Concluding the meeting, Fayez Ahmed Tayyeb thanked the participants and assured that all policy and technical teams would work together to implement more effective measures against online gambling soon.

Khaborwala/TSN