Gambling websites witnessed 1.6 billion visits in three months: Digital India Foundation
It is IPL season once again, and the excitement is palpable. Cricketing superstars from around the world, including national icons like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Shubman Gill, as well as international talents such as Pat Cummins and Travis Head, have gathered to compete in this electrifying tournament, which is by far the richest cricket competition in the world.
But while the nation celebrates its favourite sport, a darker game plays out behind the scenes, one of addiction, debt and despair.
Betting on Entertainment
As millions tune in to JioCinema or Hotstar to catch the daily IPL matches, another spectacle unfolds during the commercial breaks, a relentless barrage of ads for tobacco products and online gambling platforms. From Rajshri and Vimal to Dream11 and PokerBaazi, these promotions dominate the screen, endorsed by beloved celebrities and sporting legends.
With glossy production values and promises of fast money, these apps market themselves as games of skill rather than chance, sidestepping stricter gambling regulations. They spend heavily on celebrity endorsements and prime-time slots between 19:00 and 22:00, when family audiences are most likely to be watching.
As a result of audiences being pummelled by such ads for years, a generation of viewers, especially youth, have been exposed to content that glamorises gambling, normalises risk, and downplays the potential consequences.
The meteoric rise of online gambling in India is no coincidence. A perfect storm of cheap digital access, legal ambiguity and cultural endorsement has created the ideal conditions for its growth.
With over 850 million smartphone users and some of the lowest data rates in the world, gambling platforms are accessible even in remote towns. Lockdowns during the pandemic nudged many towards online gaming for entertainment and emotional escape, what began as a way to pass time quickly spiralled into full-blown dependency for some.
Adding to this is the legal loophole is the Public Gambling Act of 1867, which distinguishes between games of skill and games of chance. As a result, online platforms exploit this grey zone by presenting gambling as skill-based play, evading stricter laws and licensing scrutiny.
Moreover, celebrity endorsements play a pivotal role. For instance when popular celebrities like Rohit Sharma or Shah Rukh Khan promote a platform, it lends an air of legitimacy and aspiration, encouraging people to try it “just once’’. But these apps are engineered to retain users, flashy rewards, instant wins and persuasive notifications, thus creating a compelling psychological loop that is hard to break.
This potent mix of accessibility, legality and digital design has made gambling not just easy but dangerously routine, warn activists campaigning against such online platforms.
“Online gambling does not feel like gambling anymore it is just another app on your phone. That is what makes it so dangerous,” Pratham Gupta of Healing House Rehabilitation Centre, a Delhi-based de-addiction centre tells Media India Group.
Gupta says that the centre has seen a sharp rise in cases linked to digital gambling and recounts a client who began gambling during the pandemic lockdown, initially just for fun.
“At first, he put in a few hundred rupees. But soon, he was borrowing money just to keep playing. He lost over and over again, before he even realised it had become an addiction,” adds Gupta.
In another case, the ‘victim’ used gambling to cope with unresolved grief. “He told us that winning gave him a high, it made him feel like he was finally in control. But it was a vicious cycle. He kept losing more than he won and the guilt kept piling up,” says Gupta.
According to him, at Healing House, therapists focus on deeper emotional triggers behind compulsive behaviour. “It is never just about the money. It is often anxiety, trauma or a need for validation. Gambling offers a temporary escape,” explains Gupta.
What is more worrying, he adds, is how normalised gambling has become. “People are betting thousands from their living rooms, with family in the next room. There is no stigma anymore,” he cautions.
Recovery is possible, he insists, but awareness and early intervention are key.
The Hidden Toll
“I came across the app through an ad, it looked like an easy way to make some extra money,” says Siddheshwar Vaskar Singh, a chauffeur who found himself sinking into the world of online gambling via platforms like Rummy Circle.
“I used to start small, INR 2,000 to INR 5,000 at a time. But eventually, I was putting in INR 20,000, even INR 50,000. Till now, I have lost around INR 1.5 million to INR 2 million,” Singh tells Media India Group, his voice heavy with regret.
Despite such staggering losses, there was no external pressure or internal compulsion.
“No one came asking for the money. But I was always chasing my own losses taking loans, accepting help, and then blowing it all again,” adds Singh.
What kept him hooked was the illusion of control. “It would show that I was winning, and the next moment everything would be gone. I will lose INR 10,000 in one go and then scramble to recover it. But the apps know how to reel you back in, they are designed that way,” he says.
Even with limited income, Singh continued gambling, driven by hope. “I work hard, I drive for a living. Still, I got trapped in this cycle. Once you are in, it is very hard to get out,” he admits.
Now, as he attempts to rebuild his life, he reflects on the cost, “The money is gone, but so is a part of my peace of mind.”
Gaping legal loopholes
But despite the negative association, the online gambling industry operates in a legal grey zone. The primary law governing gambling in India, the Public Gambling Act of 1867, distinguishes between “games of skill” and “games of chance.”
Games like chess, which require strategy, are considered legal. Dice games and lotteries based purely on chance are banned. But with online gambling, the distinction has blurred. Many platforms claim to offer skill-based games but operate more like digital casinos.
This ambiguity has allowed platforms to flourish under the guise of legality. The result is an unchecked addiction spreading across demographics.
Instead of proactively addressing the issue, the government has turned a blind eye to this rising problem. In a feeble attempt to regulate online gaming, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology amended the intermediary rules in 2023. However, due to poor implementation, India has emerged as a major hub for offshore betting operations, resulting in significant economic losses.
As per news reports, it estimate that the illegal sports betting market in India handles nearly USD 100 billion in annual deposits, leading to tax losses of approximately INR 2.296 trillion each year from uncollected Goods and Services Tax (GST).
According to Gupta, there is no law against online gambling, as in many websites people are not required to give identity cards or proof of age to show that they are not minors.
“It is easy to access. There is no law against it. There is nothing. Anyone can easily access it. There are many sites where you do not have to give your Aadhaar card or any age proof. You just have to add money and you can do betting,” adds Gupta.
Divyanshi Malhotra, a French teacher from Delhi, attributes the government’s lax approach to its dependence on betting as a revenue source and its inability to regulate certain apps operating beyond its jurisdiction.
“Enforcement is really tough because people will go to great lengths to make money. These days, many just use a VPN to access apps banned in India. For instance, I could not find a certain editing app here, so I use a VPN to run it. It is also a revenue interest for the government, while filing taxes, there is even an option for lottery and horse racing, from which state governments collect taxes,” Malhotra tells Media India Group.
The experiences of Malhotra and Gupta highlight concerns around limited regulatory oversight and enforcement by the government.
A report by Digital India Foundation revealed a staggering 1.6 billion visits to just four gambling websites in three months. As per the report, driven by social media, a whopping 184 million visits were organically made to these websites. Mirror websites, which replicate the original platforms to evade bans, only add to the crisis. Three Parimatch mirror sites alone accounted for 266 million visits.
Despite frequent government crackdowns, ranging from site blocks to public advisories, illegal platforms continue to thrive. They leverage advanced digital marketing, frictionless payment gateways and mirror domains to avoid detection.
While major tech platforms claim to ban gambling promotions, enforcement is lax. The report found a significant surge in Facebook’s ad network running such content, undermining regulatory efforts.
Real Money, Real Consequences
India is home to 591 million gamers, accounting for 20 pc of the global gaming population, and has recorded 11.2 billion mobile game downloads. According to Spherical Insights, the Indian online gambling market is projected to surpass USD 5.55 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.89 pc.
Additonally, a joint report by Winzo Games and IEIC further estimates the sector will touch USD 9.1 billion by 2029, with real-money games leading the surge.
Yet, these impressive numbers mask a deeply troubling truth, behind every download is a person, sometimes a curious teenager, sometimes a struggling worker, risking more than just money.