'Illegal gambling operators are systematically exploiting India's advertising and payment infrastructure, siphoning off crores of rupees from outside the country.'
Lacking basic safeguards and regulations, India is fast emerging as a hub for the illegal online betting and gambling market, with the top 15 such unauthorised platforms logging an alarming over 5.4 billion visits in FY25, according to a report by public policy think-tank on consumer sovereignty.
The annual deposits in these illegal platforms, including 1xBet, Parimatch, Stake, Fairplay and BateryBet, is estimated to the tune of $100 billion, CUTS International said in its report on Sunday.
Pointing to a worrying trend, the report highlighted that these platforms often bypass basic safeguards like Know Your Customer (KYC) and age verification, giving minors and young adults unregulated and unrestricted access to gambling content.
Some offshore operators, such as Parimatch, use tactics like cash-on-delivery, making it easier for minors, who may lack digital payment access, to gamble repeatedly without parental or legal oversight.
"This report's policy gap assessment reveals a disturbing reality that while many jurisdictions around the world are introducing strict penalties on illegal gambling and building enforcement partnerships with major tech platforms, India continues to lack basic safeguards," said Pradeep Mehta, founder and secretary general, CUTS.
"Without urgent regulatory action, these platforms will keep targeting unsuspecting and vulnerable consumers. We must act swiftly to protect Indian users and restore integrity to our digital ecosystem," Mehta added.
"Illegal gambling operators are systematically exploiting India's advertising and payment infrastructure, siphoning off crores of rupees from outside the country. This presents a major national security threat and also exposes Indian consumers to serious harm," Mehta said.
Highlighting the lack of norms for advertisements, no payment-blocking protocols, and no systematic domain-monitoring infrastructure, specifically for illegal gambling, the report called for the setting up of a central regulator.
What is more alarming is that traffic share for one such platform, Parimatch, for March 2025 even outranked widely used sites such as amazon.in, wikipedia.org, google.co.in, x.com, hotstar.com, flipkart.com, linkedin.com, quora.com, and reddit.com, the report said.
The report also highlighted that the appeal of these illegal platforms lies in their accessibility and in the immersive and high-risk experiences they engineer.
Illegal platforms such as Stake and 1xBet deploy sophisticated psychological design techniques and often facilitate higher-risk betting, which intensifies the excitement and thrill.
Such high-stakes environments are particularly attractive to sensation-seeking youth and those with impulsive tendencies, significantly increasing their risk of developing gambling-related harm.
A critical driving factor behind the growth and sustainability of illegal gambling platforms in India is their aggressive user acquisition, engagement, and retention strategies, it said.
They employ a sophisticated ecosystem of tools and tactics designed to attract new users and to keep them actively engaged.
Over 66 per cent of total traffic, amounting to more than 3.5 billion visits (between April 2024 and March 2025), is through direct traffic, meaning users are manually entering URLs, using bookmarks, or copying links from private channels.
This means that there is an illusion of trustworthiness, where users perceive these illegal platforms as established and trusted brands.
A significant portion of direct traffic is also driven by mass media advertising, such as television commercials, outdoor advertising, billboard campaigns, and celebrity endorsements.
Another critical discovery channel is search engines, particularly Google.
Search traffic contributes more than 650 million visits, meaning that the illegal gambling platforms are successfully indexed and ranked high in search results, aided by aggressive SEO tactics and inadequate enforcement by search engines.
Further, illegal gambling operators continue to facilitate the movement of funds by employing rapidly evolving tactics and exploiting loopholes and vulnerabilities in India's payment infrastructure.
Such tactics include extensive use of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, mule accounts, and mobile APKs, the report said.
They have also developed sophisticated apps like XHelper, designed to coordinate vast money mule networks and sustain the illegal gambling ecosystem operating beneath the surface of India's digital economy.
The ministry of finance had in March 2025 revealed intensified enforcement against offshore online entities, with nearly 700 under investigation.
So far, 357 illegal or non-compliant Web sites/URLs have been blocked and almost 2,000 bank accounts frozen, apart from other robust initiatives.
However, the report has called for additional efforts to make such measures more effective.
The report further argues that enforcement is largely manual and reactive, while consumer protection remains minimal.
The report has provided recommendations, drawn from international best practices, such as establishing a comprehensive national framework to combat illegal online gambling, one that ensures clear accountability across payments, advertising, digital platforms, and financial intermediaries.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
© 2025