Illegal Online Betting Growing Fast in India

Lacking basic safeguards and regulations, India is fast emerging as a hub for illegal online betting and gambling market, with the top 15 such unauthorized platforms logging an alarming over 5.4 billion visits in FY25, according to a report by public policy think-tank on consumer sovereignty.

- SHINE JACOB

The annual deposits in these illegal platforms, including 1xBet, Parimatch, Stake, Fairplay and BatteryBet, 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.

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.