Illegal betting sites start new innings as IPL action picks up

Illegal sports betting platforms such as Parimatch, 1XBet, Betfair, Crickex, Fairplay, and Lotus365 have stepped up their operations in India amid the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), offering discounts and ‘treasure hunts’ for match tickets to entice cricket fans.

E-Gaming Federation of India (EGF), which represents legitimate e-sports and fantasy gaming companies like Games24x7 and Head Digital, has approached the government, seeking an outright ban on “these unscrupulous fly-by-night operators that have been flagrantly violating laws”.

These illegal betting websites have packaged their offers in ways that provide a “false sense of authenticity” to unsuspecting users, EGF said in a letter to the information and broadcasting ministry, electronics and information technology ministry, and other government agencies last week.

Operations of these sites also pose broader challenges such as “tax and data pilferage, money laundering, and national security risks”, EGF chief Anuraag Saxena told ET.

Online betting and gambling are banned in India as per provisions of the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, better known as the Information Technology Rules of 2021.

Yet, most sports betting sites have continued with impunity under various iterations of their original names and web addresses, an analysis by ET has found.

They have also re-started offering special discounts on deposits made by users, packaged ‘treasure hunts’ that offer match tickets and other freebies and goodies to lure users to their platforms.

According to digital fraud detection agency mFilterIt, use of these platforms exposes users to easy financial fraud, misuse of their personal data, and transaction laundering.

mFilterIt scans more than 1,500 websites every day to check for unauthorised use of Indian payment instruments like unified payment interface (UPI), mobile payment wallets, and credit and debit cards.

“On such platforms, users can place bets on winning predictions, player performance, runs scored in overs or wickets falling, etc,” mFilterIt cofounder Amit Relan said. “As betting activities are illegal in India, these sites operate from overseas and keep on changing their domain to avoid takedown.”

While there are no official statistics to measure the illegal betting and gambling sector in India, an independent body Think Change Forum estimated that they recorded nearly $100 billion, or about Rs 8.3 lakh crore, of deposits in 2023 with over 140 million players. The IPL was the major driver of betting activity when the number of users peaked up to 370 million, it said.

ET had earlier reported that several of these websites were a part of the banned MahadevBook betting syndicate but had since resurfaced in new avatars and continued to operate under different domain names.

Gulshan Rai, former cyber security coordinator of India, said the government is mulling new regulations that can function as a buffer to fight this menace. “If the government creates a KYC (know-your-customer) database…of legitimate players, the job of finding illegitimate players will not be very difficult,” he told ET.

A government official said it is up to the states to crack down on these sites.

“While we are aware of these violations, the action has to be taken by the state since it is a local law and order issue,” the official said. “From the central level, the best we can do is issue advisories for all platforms to follow and ask them to be stringent about the measures they take.”