ED summons Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Sonu Sood in online betting probe

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, and Sonu Sood in connection with its money laundering probe into betting app 1xBet. The agency is investigating celebrity endorsements, payment modes, and contracts linked to the banned platform

New Delhi: Widening its probe into an alleged illegal online betting linked money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned cricketers Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh, and actor Sonu Sood for questioning, officials said Tuesday.

Uthappa (39), Singh (43), and Sood (52) have been asked to depose beginning next week at the agency’s headquarters investigation unit in Delhi and get their statements recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case linked to a platform named 1xBet, the officials said.

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While Uthappa has been asked to depose on September 22, Singh has been called on September 23, followed by Sood on September 24, they said. The federal probe agency has questioned former cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, apart from former TMC MP and actor Mimi Chakraborty, over the last few weeks as part of this investigation.

Bengali actor Ankush Hazra (36) appeared before the ED on Tuesday on his scheduled summons in the case, while actor Urvashi Rautela (31), the India brand ambassador of 1xBet, is yet to appear on her given date for Tuesday, the sources said.

The probe pertains to the operations of the 1xBet betting app as part of ED’s wider probe against such platforms on allegations of duping numerous people and investors worth crores of rupees and reportedly evading a huge amount of direct and indirect taxes.

According to the Curacao-registered company, 1xBet is a globally recognised bookmaker with 18 years in the betting industry. The brand’s customers can place bets on thousands of sporting events, with the company’s website and app available in 70 languages, according to the company.

An email sent by PTI seeking a response from 1xBet on the ED probe remained unanswered till the filing of this report. More sportspersons, movie actors, online influencers, and celebrities are expected to be questioned by the agency in the coming days as part of this probe.

The ED’s line of investigation, according to the sources, is to know from the celebrities as to how they were contacted by the said betting company seeking their endorsement, the nodal person(s) for contact in India, the mode of payment (cash through hawala or banking channel), and place of the payment (in India or abroad) etc.

The agency, while recording the statements of the cricketers and actors, is understood to be asking them if they knew that online betting and gaming were illegal in India. It has also asked them to furnish a copy of their contracts and all relevant email and paper documentation made by them with 1xBet.

The agency is also looking at the end use of the money taken by the celebrities to check if any of them can be categorised as the “proceeds of crime” under the PMLA, as per the sources. The Union government recently banned real money online gaming in India by bringing legislation. The ED, during a recent national meeting of its senior officers in Jammu and Kashmir, has also decided to initiate “focused strategies” to investigate financial crimes arising from this sector, linked to alleged illegal betting and gaming.

In a similar case being investigated by the Hyderabad office of the agency, actors like Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda, and Lakshmi Manchu, apart from some other online influencers, were questioned under the anti-money laundering law.

According to estimates by market analysis firms and probe agencies undertaken before the government ban, there were about 22 crore Indian users in various such online betting apps, out of which half (about 11 crore) were regular users.

The online betting app market in India was estimated to be worth over USD 100 billion, which was stated to be growing at the rate of 30 per cent, according to experts. The government has told Parliament that it has issued 1,524 orders from 2022 to June 2025 to block online betting and gambling platforms.