India needs strict laws and consumer-first approach to tackle illegal online gambling: experts
Illegal online gambling in India has become a major problem, it is growing at an alarming pace with unlicensed websites—often running from overseas—using aggressive ads, celebrity endorsements, and easy-to-use apps to pull in millions of players. Because these sites operate outside the law, they don’t check a user’s age or identity, making it easy for minors and vulnerable people to join in. Legal platforms are left at a disadvantage, while illegal ones keep growing without any checks. Legal platforms are left at a disadvantage, while illegal ones keep growing without any checks. As a result, India must bring in clear rules and take strong steps to stop this misuse.
A new report by public policy think tank CUTS International, titled Fixing the Odds: A Policy Blueprint for Curbing Illegal Online Gambling in India, provides a data-driven look into how these platforms are flourishing—and why current measures are not enough to stop them.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, the top 15 illegal gambling platforms attracted over 5.4 billion visits. Shockingly, in March 2025, Parimatch’s mirror site outperformed Amazon India and Wikipedia in web traffic. Despite recent enforcement by the Indian government—blocking websites and freezing bank accounts—many operators continue to exploit the lack of a central regulatory authority.
The report highlights a key gap: there is no permanent, coordinated national body to oversee digital gambling. At the same time, young people are being targeted more and more. Especially those between 18 and 34 are drawn in by heavy advertising, quick betting options, and no age verification. Without proper changes and protections, India could face a bigger problem with gambling addiction, money loss, and harm to players.
Putting consumers first
After the , SiGMA World reached out to Pradeep Mehta, Founder and Secretary General of CUTS International, who emphasised the importance of focusing on consumers. He said, “Over the past months, I’ve watched Indian authorities ramp up enforcement on illegal gambling—offshore entities under investigation, websites blocked, and bank accounts frozen. These measures are a positive step forward and show the government’s determination to choke off the black market sustaining unlicensed gambling operators. Yet, such tactical wins will only take us so far without a permanent, centralised framework to ensure transparency and accountability. We need to build on the existing momentum by establishing a dedicated inter-ministerial body and partnering with digital platforms so that illegal operators cannot simply reappear under a new URL or payment account.”
Mehta added that the most critical aspect is to “place consumers—especially younger and more vulnerable groups—at the heart of any response.” He explained, “Without regulatory safeguards, many are lured by slick marketing that disguises illegal operators as legitimate brands, leaving them unaware of the very real toll they have on mental well‐being, household finances, and family stability. To counter this, awareness initiatives should actively disrupt the pathways through which these platforms recruit new users. Online interventions such as effective messaging or community‐based support networks can educate consumers and prompt more cautious choices.”
He also stressed the need for research to understand why people continue to use unregulated sites despite the risks, saying, “Only then can we initiate deterrence campaigns that directly address the underlying motivations driving this demand.”
He added, “In short, strong enforcement must go hand in hand with future-proof legal and policy measures if we are to truly protect vulnerable consumers from illegal gambling operators.”
Understanding the gaps
To explore how a robust policy framework can tackle the rising challenges outlined in the report, SiGMA News spoke with Amol Kulkarni, Director (Research) at CUTS International, for an in-depth discussion.
SiGMA World: How feasible is it to create a unified national framework and set up an inter-ministerial task force?
Amol Kulkarni, Director (Research) at CUTS International: “The scale and sophistication of illegal online gambling have outpaced the current landscape of state-level regulation and reactive enforcement.
The first step is political clarity: the Centre must recognise that while gambling is a state subject, online gambling—especially when it crosses state and national borders—requires coordinated central-state leadership. An inter-ministerial task force could be initiated through an executive order, ensuring representation from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of Finance, Home Affairs, Reserve Bank of India, and enforcement agencies like Enforcement Directorate and Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) and state governments. Its first priority should be to set up a shared intelligence and enforcement protocol—something akin to the investigative/intelligence agencies, but focused on digital gambling. We need to stop treating this like a fringe issue; it’s become a serious regulatory and economic concern.
There are several examples of inter-ministerial task forces, such as , and past task forces on pharmaceutical, coal, tourism, and derivatives markets. Inspiration from the GST Council is also available to ensure coordination between different levels.”
SiGMA World: How can regulatory frameworks integrate behavioural insights to effectively deter illegal gambling while supporting consumer well-being?
Kulkarni: “Young vulnerable users are often targeted by illegal gambling platforms through unsolicited marketing practices, promotional messages, targeted ads, celebrity endorsements and referrals. This creates an illusion of trustworthiness. Regulatory frameworks need to leverage behaviour insights to break this illusion. For instance, interventions like dummy links that mimic illegal ads but redirect to educational tools, can cut through, and encourage users to pause and think in their emotionally charged state.
Similarly, targeted prompts—such as brief in-app messages that highlight potential harms— can be more effective. Introducing frictions that prompt users to reconfirm their willingness to engage with specific links could also help. There is evidence of use of similar behavioural nudges to reduce user exposure to illegal digital lending apps. So learnings from such experiences could be utilised. But all this requires serious investment in user research. Without that, we’re flying blind.”
SiGMA World: What concrete steps should be taken to hold digital intermediaries—such as search engines and social platforms—accountable in curbing visibility and access to these sites?
Kulkarni: “Search engines and social platforms are conduits for illegal gambling. When a teenager searches for “gambling” and the first three results are illegal platforms and their mirror websites, we have to ask: why is that happening, and who’s profiting from it? These intermediaries need to be held to higher standards, just like they are for harmful content in other domains. We need a system of proactive flagging: AI-driven monitoring of keywords, mirror domains, and surrogate advertising. They should verify the legitimacy of advertisers and payment partners more rigorously, and publish transparency reports detailing their enforcement efforts related to gambling content.
Platforms with the tech and reach must become active participants in the solution. While we notice that some platforms are in the process of tightening their ad rules, such mechanisms cannot remain on paper. They must be frequently reviewed and improved to deal with innovative mechanisms which illegal gambling platforms may deploy to surpass them. This is where partnership between platforms, civil society, consumer groups, and experts, can really make a difference.”
Hence, to really tackle illegal online gambling, India needs clear laws backed by strong enforcement and a focus on protecting players. Only through collaboration among the government, digital platforms, and consumer groups can unlicensed operators be kept in check and vulnerable users safeguarded.
