Don’t Bet On It! Major News Outlets Run Ads Promoting Illegal Online Casino Game As Real Articles

Flight attendant Priya Sharma’s alleged ₹21-crore jackpot win from a ₹500 online casino bet has gone viral across major Indian news outlets, with reports claiming she then stunned passengers by announcing her resignation mid-flight.

Several leading media outlets, including the Hindustan Times, the Economic Times and NDTV India, published sensational reports on April 15 and April 16, stating that Sharma was struggling with financial stress when she discovered the online slot game “Ganesha Fortune” on Casino Days, an online gambling platform. The story narrates that her modest ₹500 bet rapidly multiplied — her balance reportedly crossing ₹1 lakh, then ₹10 lakh, and finally reaching an astounding figure of ₹21,83,02,672. Navbharat Times,  Uttam Hindu, TV9 Marathi, and Reporter Live, too, published similar articles in Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam respectively. 

However, this sensational online casino win story raises significant red flags for readers seeking reliable information. Key details such as Sharma’s age, the name of the airline that employed her, and verifiable personal background are missing from all reports. Additionally, the Hindustan Times included a disclaimer stating it had not independently verified the claims, and both Hindustan Times and the Economic Times have since removed the article from their websites. This strongly suggests the story was not legitimate news but rather a misleading promotional campaign for an online gambling platform, or a potential scam designed to attract users with promises of massive winnings. These discrepancies raised questions about how such misleading and potentially fraudulent information ended up being published on reputable news websites, prompting us to investigate further.

The Source Behind The Viral Story: Highly Suspicious and Untrustworthy

According to multiple reports, flight attendant Priya Sharma allegedly won ₹21 crore after placing a casual ₹500 bet on an online casino game during a layover, later announcing her resignation mid-flight. These sensational claims, widely cited by media outlets, referenced a  report by “Casino Exposed.”

Newschecker’s investigation revealed that the “Casino Exposed” article was hosted on medalawards.net, a website with questionable credibility. Attempts to verify the source led to a contact email –  info@awardmedals.org – which, when searched, pointed not to a media outlet, but to “Award Medals,” a UK-based supplier of military commemoratives and gifts. 

Further analysis using Scam Detector, a leading online fraud prevention tool, flagged medalawards.net as unsafe, highlighting significant risks of phishing and scams. 

“The Scam Detector website validator gives medalawards.net one of the lowest trust scores on the platform: 9.2. It signals that the business could be defined by the following tags: Untrustworthy. Risky. Danger. …. The algorithm detected high-risk activity related to phishing, spamming, and other factors noted in the Untrustworthy. Risky. Danger. tags above. Long story short, we recommend staying away from this website.,” read the Scam Detector review of the website, stating that the low trust score leans toward medalawards.net being a scam.

We investigated the Casino Days website, the platform promoted in the viral online casino story, and found several concerning issues. Scam Detector assigned casinodays2.com a low-to-medium trust score of 48.2 out of 100, flagging it as “Doubtful,” “Medium-Risk,” and “Alert” due to potential high-risk activity related to phishing and spamming. The review strongly cautioned users against engaging with the site, highlighting serious red flags. “Long story short, we caution you about using this website” read the review of the website, further indicating that it was a scam.

When we examined the Casino Days website, we noticed a lack of transparency: there was no clear information about the company’s ownership or the people behind the platform. All images on the site were either generic game visuals or appeared to be AI-generated photos, rather than real staff or leadership. This lack of verifiable details and authentic imagery further undermines the credibility of the site and suggests it could be part of a scam targeting users with promises of big casino winnings

Several reports linked to another nearly identical “Casino Exposed” article, where the flight attendant’s name was changed from Priya Sharma to Anika S and a different photo was used. This inconsistency strongly suggests that these stories were crafted to mislead readers and entice them into online betting scams.

Screengrabs of the two Casino Exposed articles, identifying the flight attendant as Priya Sharma (above) in one and Anika S in the other (below).

Further investigation revealed that the photo allegedly showing Priya Sharma in one article depicted her as an IndiGo employee. We reached out to IndiGo for confirmation and are awaiting their response. Additionally, a reverse image search of the photo used for “Anika S” showed it has been online since 2020, and actually belongs to @hannahxella (Hannah Ella), a British Airways crew member, not an Indian flight attendant.

Cybersecurity researcher Karan Saini explained to Newschecker, “This article had previously been linked from legitimate news websites via advertisements paid for by illegal online betting and gambling platforms. It’s unclear why news websites picked up the story from such a dubious source.”

Is Online Gambling Legal in India? Understanding The Laws and Regulations

The legality of online gambling in India is complex and varies significantly across states, making it a confusing and often misunderstood topic for players and operators alike. While physical betting houses are illegal in many parts of the country, online gambling exists in a legal gray area due to the lack of clear, unified national legislation. While physical betting is banned in many states, online gambling laws vary—some states permit it, while others have imposed strict bans. 

The distinction between “games of skill” (often legal) and “games of chance” (usually illegal) also affects the legality of different platforms as the latter is classified as gambling under the Public Gambling Act, 1867, and various state laws.

We reached out to Saini, who said, “Gambling is a vice. But given the normalisation of it in society under the garb of fantasy sports betting and skill-based gaming, and also owing to the fact that certain kinds of betting apps are legal in India, it is natural that platforms skirting the law will also appear.”

Also Read: From Businessmen To Actors, Scammers Impersonate Celebrities To Dupe Public

Sources
Website analysis
Scam Detector tool
Conversation with Karan Saini, cybersecurity researcher