Mahadev betting syndicate resurfaces with new avatars, deepfake tactics

A dozen betting websites, which were part of the infamous Mahadev betting syndicate banned by the central government in November 2023, have resurfaced in new avatars and are continuing to operate with different internet addresses, multiple gaming analysts told ET.

These proxy websites have resurfaced with new betting games under different labels. The banned URL Parimatch has become pari-match-bet.in, Lotus365 is now lotus365.co while Fairplay has become fair-play.com.in or fairplay24.in.

An official post on the Fairplay Instagram account states, “Our domain has changed. Fairplay.in changed into Fairplay24.in. ID Password will be same.” Another banned app 1XBet is now india-1Xbet.in or 1Xbatsporting.com.


“The government’s ban has hardly moved the needle for these website operators,” said Prateek Tiwari, a real-money gaming analyst. “It was just a matter of days after the ban that some 20 new URLs surfaced and continued to operate the nexus,” he added.

The games are also being heavily promoted through advertisements on social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube and X through first-person narratives by people who purportedly have gained fabulous returns by betting on these games.

In games such as ‘Skyward Aviator Quest’, new gamers can start with a bet value of `10 and earn a maximum of `8 lakh.

The game also gained dubious distinction when it was recently promoted in a deepfake video featuring Sachin Tendulkar.

Tiwari pointed to some new aviator games that have “become an obsession…an addiction among people”, these games “do not require KYC, even a 12-year-old can get addicted”, he said.

Also read | The Mahadev case highlights legal grey areas of online gaming. Here’s why the stakes are high.

In a statement during the winter session of Parliament, the ministry of finance had said that the IT ministry had blocked a total of 581 apps, including 174 betting and gambling apps as well as 87 loan lending apps. The banned apps also included those unearthed by the enforcement directorate as being part of the Mahadev syndicate operating from Dubai. Policy advisors are of the view that there is need for public-private partnership to oversee sectors such as online gambling and digital lending where offshore operators evade local laws.

“There are multiple ways of circumventing a ban, such as creating mirror counterparts, or auto-redirect users to websites with different IP addresses to blunt the effectiveness of URL blocking,” said Vivan Sharan, partner at policy advisory firm Koan Advisory.

To ensure that the deterrent is effective, government can leverage the private sector capacity to serve as ‘trusted flaggers’ and aid monitoring efforts, he noted, while adding that “such a collaboration can help in identifying illegal operators, as well as common means of side-stepping regulations.”

ET reported on January 6 that the promoters of Mahadev Book, an illegal betting application under the scanner of various probe agencies, had invested the alleged proceeds of crime (PoC) in crypto currency, bogus diamond trade, stock and offshore real estate, citing the findings of an ED probe.

The Mahadev app nexus, which is estimated to be a Rs 5,000 crore scam, allegedly runs illegal betting and gambling websites and collects the proceeds through several panel operators across India. These operators are responsible for creating user accounts and collecting deposits from players and transferring the earnings to Mahadev’s offices in countries such as UAE, Sri Lanka, Australia and the Caribbean.

ED discovered the nexus when it was investigating remittances of Rs 4,000 crore allegedly made in the guise of payments for import of goods and services in May last year.

Also read | Mahadev promoters made Rs 450 crore a month, says ED charge sheet

Bogus entities

Industry experts tracking the viral spread of these banned apps are of the view that proceeds from the renamed URLs continue to be layered through multiple bank accounts with money siphoned off to global locations.

“There is one Aura Gaming, a bogus entity operating out of Curacao in South America, which apparently develops these games and offers it to clients through API integration,” Tiwari added.

API integration is a plug-and-play solution which allows games and servers of the developer to run on software applications such as mobile apps and websites. The ED probe had revealed that the bank accounts used in the Mahadev betting operations were benami or bogus accounts.

The mandatory process of identifying and verifying identity when opening a bank account was sabotaged with documents of unsuspecting individuals, including daily wage workers, used to open these accounts.