50 lakh people involved in online gambling: Palak

State minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Monday said that a drive involving all concerned would be conducted to stop online gambling.

Around 50 lakh people are involved in online gambling, the state minister told reporters after a meeting with French ambassador to Bangladesh Marie Masdupuy at the secretariat.

When his attention was drawn to the issue of money laundering through online gambling, the state minister said, ‘We have exchanged views on online gambling. Our children of different ages are at serious risk. Even many elderly retired persons are coming in. Analysing the data, we have seen how 50 lakh people have become involved in these gambling sites.’

‘We are trying to block illegal gambling sites. I’m also trying to create awareness. So that common people are not deceived by any such temptation,’ he said.

A total of 2,600 gambling sites have already been blocked and now mobile apps are being blocked, he said adding, ‘It’s a continuous process, it will continue.’

He said that they sat with the Department of Telecom, National Telecom Monitoring Centre, Computer Council, BTRC and Cyber Security Agency to discuss blocking of these gambling sites.