Illegal Online Gambling in India Still Growing Despite Bans
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:A recent study by the Digital India Foundation (DIF) has revealed the huge scale of illegal online gambling and betting in India despite ongoing efforts to crackdown on the industry.
Authored by Dr. Arvind Gupta and the DIF research team, the report details how platforms are circumventing regulations by making use digital advertising, payment systems, and offshore jurisdictions.
Massive Online Traffic to Illegal Gambling Sites
According to the report, four major illegal platforms, Parimatch, Stake, 1xBet, and BATERY. accumulated 1.6 billion visits in just three months. The Indian Premier League (IPL) season, which runs from March to April, acts as a key driver of increased search interest in online betting, which further fuels the industry’s growth.
The study also discusses the use of mirror websites, alternative domains that replicate gambling platforms, to bypass government-imposed website blocks. For example, Parimatch has just three mirror sites that generated an additional 266 million visits.
One of the main factors enabling illegal gambling in India is digital marketing. Over a three-month period, social media platforms directed approximately 42.8 million visits to these illegal sites.
Search engine traffic also played a role, generating around 184 million visits as gambling sites continue to rank highly in search results. Additionally, referral traffic contributed 247.5 million visits, largely coming from adult websites, sports-related platforms, and video streaming services.
Despite policies that prohibit gambling promotions, major digital platforms like Google and Facebook still display ads for offshore gambling operators. This loophole allows illegal sites to increase their audience while avoiding regulatory consequences.
The Financial Infrastructure Behind Illegal Gambling
Illegal gambling platforms maintain their operations through sophisticated financial networks that enable easy money transfers. The platforms accept multiple payment methods, including UPI transactions, cryptocurrency, and international wallets such as AstroPay, to provide users with anonymity when placing bets.
The report also exposed the growing use of mule accounts, which are bank accounts used to process illicit gambling transactions. According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), approximately ₹2,500 crore ($300 million) flows through these illegal networks every month.
Despite attempts to curb illegal gambling through website bans and financial restrictions, the report argues that India's enforcement remains fragmented. A comparison with international strategies from Norway, the UK, Denmark, Belgium, and the US shows that a multi-layered approach, combining website blocking, marketing restrictions, payment bans, and regulatory whitelisting, has been more effective in other countries.
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To combat illegal online gambling, the Digital India Foundation is calling for authorities to adopt a comprehensive enforcement strategy that targets main pillars of the industry. The report suggests better regulation of digital advertising to prevent social media platforms and search engines from promoting illegal gambling sites, tighter financial controls to block illicit transactions and dismantle networks of mule accounts used for money laundering, and a government-backed whitelist/blocklist system to regulate online gambling access and ensure only licensed platforms operate in the country.
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