Report reveals 5.4 billion visits driven by aggressive marketing of illegal betting sites

New Delhi: Illegal online gambling websites are getting billions of visits each year in India, putting people’s safety, the country’s financial system, and national security at risk. This is according to a new report by the public policy think tank CUTS International. The report says people are now putting nearly USD 100 billion into these platforms every year, showing how fast and dangerously this hidden industry is growing.

The study tracked over 5.4 billion visits to the top 15 illegal gambling platforms including 1xBet, Parimatch, Stake, Fairplay, and BateryBet across 40 mirror sites between April 2024 and March 2025. In March 2025, traffic to Parimatch alone exceeded that of widely used platforms such as Google, Amazon, and Wikipedia, based on data included in the report.

CUTS International’s Secretary General, Pradeep Mehta, said illegal operators are exploiting loopholes in India’s regulatory and digital infrastructure, “Illegal gambling operators are systematically exploiting India’s advertising and payment infrastructure, siphoning off crores of rupees from outside the country. This presents a major national security threat and also exposes Indian consumers to serious harm.”

He further added, “This report’s policy gap assessment reveals a disturbing reality that while many jurisdictions around the world are introducing strict penalties on illegal gambling and building enforcement partnerships with major tech platforms, India continues to lack basic safeguards. Without urgent regulatory action, these platforms will keep targeting unsuspecting and vulnerable consumers. We must act swiftly to protect Indian users and restore integrity to our digital ecosystem.”

The report highlights that the ease of access, immersive nature of the platforms, and high-risk experiences are particularly appealing to young adults and minors. Platforms such as Stake and 1xBet reportedly use psychological design tactics to increase engagement, which may contribute to gambling addiction, especially among individuals with impulsive tendencies.

The report also notes that illegal operators often bypass safeguards such as Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and age restrictions, exposing minors to unregulated gambling. Offshore platforms like Parimatch have adopted methods such as cash-on-delivery payments, allowing minors who lack access to digital payment systems to place bets repeatedly without oversight.

Traffic generation and manipulative strategies

A significant portion of the traffic over 66 percent, or approximately 3.5 billion visits was classified as direct traffic, suggesting that users are either typing URLs manually, bookmarking links, or accessing platforms via private channels. According to the report, this gives the illusion of trustworthiness, as repeated access may lead users to perceive these illegal websites as established services.

Mass media advertising, including television and billboards, along with celebrity endorsements, also play a role in boosting visibility. Search engines, particularly Google, drive additional traffic—more than 650 million visits—as illegal operators use aggressive search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics to appear prominently in search results.

The report outlines how these operators move funds by exploiting payment infrastructure loopholes, including use of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), mobile APKs, mule accounts, and apps such as XHelper, designed to manage money mule networks covertly.

Government action and policy gaps

In March 2025, the Ministry of Finance announced that it had taken action against nearly 700 offshore gambling platforms. This included blocking 357 websites or URLs and freezing around 2,000 bank accounts. While these measures represent some progress, the report highlights that enforcement in India remains mostly manual and reactive, with limited focus on protecting consumers.

The report compares India’s regulatory response with global standards and identifies several serious shortcomings. There is no central authority to oversee online gambling, no specific enforcement against gambling advertisements, no systems in place to block payments linked to illegal gambling, and no coordinated effort to monitor suspicious websites.

To address these issues, the report recommends creating a clear national framework to combat illegal online gambling. It suggests that this framework should be led by a high-level inter-ministerial task force and should hold various stakeholders accountable, including payment systems, advertising networks, tech platforms, and financial service providers.

The report also advises building stronger partnerships with major technology companies to reduce the visibility of illegal platforms. In addition, it calls for the launch of public awareness campaigns and the commissioning of behavioural research to understand why users continue to engage with illegal gambling sites despite the known legal and financial risks.