India’s Parliament has turned its attention to the booming world of online betting, where offshore companies have exploited gaps in regulation to capture millions of Indian users. In its 254th report on Cyber Crime—Ramifications, Protection and Prevention, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs urged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to impose stricter checks on advertisers operating from abroad. The focus: digital verification through official documents, live video identification, and “zero-trust” frameworks that constantly authenticate advertiser identity and payment channels.
Lawmakers say the stakes are more than financial. By citing a surge in fraud, phishing scams, and exploitative promotions, the committee cast betting as a matter of national interest.
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Unintended Consequences of the Ban
The urgency of the crackdown was sharpened by the unintended fallout of a recent ban on real money gaming (RMG). While domestic firms from fantasy sports providers to small gaming startups shut down money-based play, foreign betting platforms surged in to fill the vacuum. Companies such as Parimatch, 1XBet, RajaBets, and Odds92 quickly lured punters with aggressive offers — deposit bonuses as high as 700 percent and extras like free spins.
The government’s intent had been to curb addiction, suicides, and financial ruin associated with online gaming. Instead, analysts warn, a $3.8 billion local industry collapsed, surrendering an estimated $2 billion in tax revenue, even as betting demand — pegged near $100 billion annually — simply flowed offshore.
A Surge in Crime and Exploitation
The new betting landscape has also reshaped the contours of cybercrime. Tutorials on encrypted platforms like Signal and Telegram now guide users to grey-market wallets, crypto payments, and mirror apps. With nearly 100 million crypto wallets already active in India, offshore operators have found a ready-made channel to evade detection.
Industry insiders describe algorithms designed to maximize player losses, coupled with deceptive refunds and phishing scams targeting younger users. Data from the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) underscores the scale: offshore betting accounted for 43.5 percent of all ad violations in FY25, the single largest non-compliant category.
Social Costs and a Policy Dilemma
The government has defended its actions as a matter of principle. Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has cited cases of addiction, suicides, and families driven into debt, echoing the World Health Organization’s classification of gaming disorder as a public health issue. Officials estimate that 45 crore Indians lose nearly ₹20,000 crore each year to real money gaming.
Yet the move leaves policymakers in a bind. By shuttering domestic operators while offshore firms expand unchecked, India faces a paradox: it has prioritized social protection but risks deepening financial outflows and entrenching criminal networks. As Secretary S. Krishnan put it, the ban is “well within the remit of government,” but its long-term success depends on enforcement that has so far lagged behind the speed of the digital underground.