India, June 17 -- The Enforcement Directorate has reportedly expanded its investigation into illegal online betting platforms, now shifting focus to endorsements made by former cricketers and bollywood actors.

An NDTV report said that former cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina as well as bollywood actors Sonu Sood and Urvashi Rautela have been questioned as part of an ongoing probe into promotional links with banned betting platforms including 1xBet, FairPlay, Parimatch and Lotus365.

These platforms were using "surrogate" names like 1xbat in advertising campaigns that include web links and QR codes to redirect users to the original (and illegal) betting platform in violation of the current laws, the report added. ...