Unlawful online betting in India is on the rise, with an approximated 5.8 billion visits to the leading 15 platforms and their mirror sites in between April 2025 and March 2025, as operators take advantage of spaces in legislation and smartly avoid the policies which remain in place.

According to an analysis by CUTS International, the billions in gos to are simply those which can be tracked and are linked to the leading 15 prohibited betting platforms and 40 of their mirror sites. These consist of 1xBet, Parimatch, Stake, Fairplay and BaterBet.

One unexpected figure is that website traffic share for Parimatch ‘also outranked widely utilized systems such as amazon.in, Wikipedia.org, google.co.in, x.com linkedin.com, quora.com, and reddit.com’.

In a ranking of the most preferred domain names in India, from March 2025, pari-matchin. com placed 8th – behind Google (17.29 percent), Youtube (5.65 percent), Instagram (1.84 percent), WhatsApp (1.41 percent), Facebook (1.35 percent), XHamster43.desi (1.31 percent) and ChatGPT (1.08 percent) – with a website traffic share of 1.06 percent.read about it 1xbet online registration from Our Articles

The findings outlined in ‘Fixing the Probabilities: A Policy Blueprint for Curbing Illegal Online Betting in India’ emphasize not only the market range, yet additionally just how individuals are driven to unlawful gambling systems in India, how they acquire customers, repayment systems that facilitate them and the regulative voids and obstacles that exist.

Obtaining users

Direct traffic has actually confirmed to be the largest source of individual engagement for illegal on the internet gambling in India, with some 3.57 billion visits (or 66 percent of complete web traffic) signed up throughout the April 2025-March 2025 period. This consists of individuals by hand going into URLs, utilizing book marks or duplicating links from private networks.

The success of this is based upon ‘an impression of trustworthiness’, ‘unsolicited advertising techniques’, ‘private channel’ distribution (such as through WhatsApp or Telegram), mass media advertising (including TV and signboard adverts), celebrity recommendations and word-of mouth references.

Browse traffic brought in some 652.2 million visits, with Google having 97 percent market share in this respect. This causes issues over the reality that illegal gaming systems ‘are successfully indexed and placed high in search results, helped by hostile SEO techniques and weak enforcement by online search engine’.

Referral traffic, at the same time, generated some 810.43 million gos to – consisting of affiliates, links, direct media buying or news insurance coverage website traffic. 1xBet was attended have the largest reliance of the 15 operators, obtaining 22.37 percent of its traffic from the network.

Social network contributed 177.61 million check outs, ‘although the real quantity could be significantly greater due to untracked in-app mobile redirection’. Platforms like YouTube, Reddit, Instagram and Facebook, X and WhatsApp were highlighted. But enforcement of this is stymied as ‘the social networks network reflects a mix of peer-driven exploration and algorithmic promo and amplification, posturing a complicated enforcement difficulty’.

Altogether, illegal betting systems ‘grow direct partnerships with customers, enhance their search engine existence, release many mirror sites to stay obtainable, and leverage associates and social networks to keep new customers coming Merely blocking one link or advertisement network has actually limited influence when drivers can move domains and tap into an all set target market that proactively seeks them out’.

Other methods, such as surrogate advertising and marketing – making use of spin-off entities that ‘simulate the branding, logo designs and names of prominent unlawful video gaming platforms’, making use of brand name ambassadors and physical advertising – signboards and ads, are also verifying very efficient in reaching bent on a target market that authorities would certainly really hope is not urged to gamble unlawfully.

Obstacles

One of the primary factors for users choosing to gamble on illegal betting platforms in India is the high tax on down payments – 28 percent – which ‘substantially minimize the worth customers get’, causing individual to ‘seek out unlawful systems to stay clear of such costs and reroute the savings right into lucrative economic rewards, thereby boosting their charm’.

This is paired with the ‘immersive and risky experiences’ that prohibited systems use.

The report shows that ‘systems such as Stake and 1xBet include psychological design strategies – such as variable reward systems, ‘near-miss results’, and gamified notifications – that additional exploit cognitive predispositions and promote uncontrollable interaction’.

This is intensified by ‘higher-risk betting’ facilitated by these platforms, ‘which amplifies excitement and adventure’.

This raises the risk of ‘raised levels of anxiousness, anxiety, and mental illness’, especially in the absence of consumer protection devices and harm-reduction mechanisms.

Payments

One manner in which regulatory authorities can pursue these prohibited systems is by targeting settlement systems.

The report recognizes the United Payments User Interface (UPI) system as the ‘primary channel for processing deposits on unlawful gaming platforms. In October of 2025, the nation’s Ministry of Home Affairs launched a consultatory warning about ‘prohibited digital settlement entrances’, which the report notes are ‘relying upon mule or leased accounts’ and are ‘offered as a solution for collecting down payments on illegal platforms, consisting of wagering and fake financial investment scams’. Mule accounts ‘are usually sourced through systems like Telegram and Facebook and are remotely regulated from overseas’.

‘There is no indication that these operations have actually decreased. On the contrary the sheer volume of financial task recommends that current enforcement initiatives against these distributes have actually been mainly inadequate’.

Digital purses – such as Astropay, Neteller and Skrill, and cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum and so on, have actually likewise confirmed highly reliable to circumvent laws and also ‘bypass the Indian monetary system entirely’.

Current structure

‘The existing Indian regulatory structure on gaming, betting and video games of skill is characterized by a disjointed yet progressively advancing regulative landscape that mirrors the country’s early american legal heritage together with modern electronic imperatives’.

The main legal tool in place is the general public Gaming Act of 1867, ‘a statute that was developed long before the development of the net’.

The record highlights 10 other laws, standards or advisories that manage betting tasks in the country – both on-line and land-based (with legal online casino gaming limited to Goa and Sikkim, neither of which ‘have approved licensing applications from online gambling establishments’).

Suggestions

The report breaks down possible activities right into 5 main points:

• Reinforcing economic oversight: ‘codifying settlement blocking in regulation relating to prohibited drivers’ and ‘launching dedicated, thorough research study to much better map susceptabilities and notify targeted interventions’
• Improving obstructing actions: utilizing ‘sophisticated electronic enforcement modern technologies’ such as expert system and machine learning to ‘recognize and pre-emptively obstruct unapproved on-line platforms’
• Enhancing collaborations with Big Technology: establishing ‘institutional collaborations with major technology intermediaries – social media, internet search engine, and ad networks – to curb the presence and promotion of illegal betting’
• Enhancing customer security: utilizing public recognition projects that ‘clearly interact the personal and social injuries of unlawful betting
• Leveraging behavioral insights and public awareness: work to ‘understand the behavior drivers and customer inspirations that maintain demand’

The record itself does not disparage betting itself. Still, it raises solid issues regarding a substantial absence of regulations and the advanced strategies that prohibited online drivers can use to target the Indian consumer, prompting speedy improvement to stay clear of possible harm.