An alarming surge in illegal online gambling activity is reshaping India’s digital landscape, with recent reports exposing a crisis that disproportionately jeopardizes the nation’s minors and young adults. Fueled by technological sophistication, weak regulatory enforcement, and deliberate targeting tactics, these underground platforms have become not only a goldmine for their overseas operators but a significant public health and security threat for a rapidly digitizing society.
A new report by CUTS International, a globally recognized public policy think tank, reveals staggering statistics that capture the severity of the problem. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the top 15 unlicensed gambling platforms amassed more than 5.4 billion visits. To put that into perspective, the monthly traffic of some operators—such as Parimatch—outstripped even major digital giants like Google India, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Hotstar. These platforms are not niche digital outposts; they are mainstream destinations embedded across the country's online fabric.
What fuels this traffic? The data shows that approximately 66% of users access these sites directly, using bookmarks, private messages, or saved links. This bypasses traditional search engines and avoids anti-gambling filters, creating a strong illusion of trustworthiness and legitimacy. Meanwhile, a constellation of mirror sites—over 40 for the biggest names—enables continuous evasion of law enforcement and regulatory blocks.
This loophole is no accident. By design, these platforms cultivate habitual engagement among younger users. Their games often feature high-stakes, rapid gameplay structured around psychologically addictive mechanisms—reward loops and intermittent wins mimicking slot machine triggers—known to exploit the neurological vulnerabilities of adolescents. The result: a perfect storm for impulsive, thrill-seeking, and sensation-hungry young people, who are both easy to lure in and difficult to help once “hooked.”
Compounding this, aggressive marketing through influencers and targeted advertising creates a false aura of mainstream acceptance. The normalization of gambling, when coupled with direct access, creates a pipeline that can be hard to break.
Where does this money go? A significant part is routed through assets and accounts held abroad, outside any semblance of Indian oversight. This not only exposes users to fraud and financial loss without legal recourse but poses a direct national security dilemma: large-scale, untraceable money movement undermines the government’s ability to curb money laundering, terror financing, and illicit capital flight.
Pradeep Mehta, the Secretary General of CUTS International, characterizes the crisis bluntly: “Illegal gambling operators are exploiting India's digital infrastructure while evading any form of accountability. This presents a major national security threat and also exposes Indian consumers to serious harm”.
Meanwhile, the platforms have even begun to infiltrate gaming subcultures: Discord servers and gaming forums advertise betting “IDs” (accounts) as part of the gaming experience, normalizing risk-taking among impressionable users. The blurring of lines between entertainment and gambling is proving dangerous for a generation raised online.
The top platforms reportedly ran over 40 mirror sites each as of 2025, creating a whack-a-mole effect that soaks up enforcement resources but yields little disruption in user access or deposit flows.
India, with its unique youth demographics and high smartphone penetration, is a particularly lucrative market. Without urgent policy innovation, the country could soon see the social and financial costs escalate further.
Highlighting the normalization tactics—via influencer marketing and SEO—adds crucial detail for anyone working to counteract these narratives and educate young users.
Perhaps the gravest concern is the criminalization and exploitation of children, who are exposed to life-altering risks at a formative age, often without family knowledge or intervention. Without decisive action, a full-blown epidemic of youth gambling disorder is not merely possible, but likely.
Failure to act will mean surrendering vast swathes of the youth population to platforms designed to profit from their vulnerabilities. To tilt the scales in favor of public interest, India and its partners must commit to rapid reform, aggressive enforcement, and relentless public education—before the cost becomes truly irreparable.
Source: lokmattimes.com Illegal gambling platforms putting minors and youth at risk: Report - www.lokmattimes.com
The Scale: Billions of Visits and Unprecedented Reach
A new report by CUTS International, a globally recognized public policy think tank, reveals staggering statistics that capture the severity of the problem. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the top 15 unlicensed gambling platforms amassed more than 5.4 billion visits. To put that into perspective, the monthly traffic of some operators—such as Parimatch—outstripped even major digital giants like Google India, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Hotstar. These platforms are not niche digital outposts; they are mainstream destinations embedded across the country's online fabric.What fuels this traffic? The data shows that approximately 66% of users access these sites directly, using bookmarks, private messages, or saved links. This bypasses traditional search engines and avoids anti-gambling filters, creating a strong illusion of trustworthiness and legitimacy. Meanwhile, a constellation of mirror sites—over 40 for the biggest names—enables continuous evasion of law enforcement and regulatory blocks.
Top Operators and Their Tactics
Operators like Parimatch, 1xBet, Stake, Fairplay, and BateryBet dominate the landscape. Far from being fringe players, their sophisticated web strategies and aggressive marketing have made them household names. These companies leverage loopholes in India’s payment systems and advertising networks, using everything from SEO-boosted sites to large-scale celebrity endorsements and prime-time billboards to reinforce their brand visibility.Vulnerable Groups: Minors and Youth on the Frontline
The most disturbing revelation is the ease with which children and teenagers can access these sites. CUTS International’s report highlights that many platforms intentionally bypass the most basic Know Your Customer (KYC) and age verification checkpoints. Some even permit cash-on-delivery payment options—that is, teenagers without bank cards or e-wallets can gamble repeatedly, entirely unsupervised.This loophole is no accident. By design, these platforms cultivate habitual engagement among younger users. Their games often feature high-stakes, rapid gameplay structured around psychologically addictive mechanisms—reward loops and intermittent wins mimicking slot machine triggers—known to exploit the neurological vulnerabilities of adolescents. The result: a perfect storm for impulsive, thrill-seeking, and sensation-hungry young people, who are both easy to lure in and difficult to help once “hooked.”
The Psychology of Digital Dependency
Studies in youth psychology confirm that under-25s are particularly susceptible to behaviors that provide instant rewards or social validation. When coupled with unsupervised digital access and opaque algorithms designed to maximize “time-on-site,” gambling platforms become almost irresistible for many within this demographic.Compounding this, aggressive marketing through influencers and targeted advertising creates a false aura of mainstream acceptance. The normalization of gambling, when coupled with direct access, creates a pipeline that can be hard to break.
Economic Impact and National Security Risks
Perhaps even more staggering than the traffic volume is the estimate of money flowing through these illicit systems. CUTS International pegs annual user deposits into illegal betting platforms at nearly $100 billion—a sum on par with the GDPs of small-to-medium countries and an order of magnitude larger than India’s regulated gambling sector.Where does this money go? A significant part is routed through assets and accounts held abroad, outside any semblance of Indian oversight. This not only exposes users to fraud and financial loss without legal recourse but poses a direct national security dilemma: large-scale, untraceable money movement undermines the government’s ability to curb money laundering, terror financing, and illicit capital flight.
Pradeep Mehta, the Secretary General of CUTS International, characterizes the crisis bluntly: “Illegal gambling operators are exploiting India's digital infrastructure while evading any form of accountability. This presents a major national security threat and also exposes Indian consumers to serious harm”.
Why Existing Oversight Fails
Despite advances in fintech and a robust digital payment ecosystem, regulatory enforcement remains weak at the intersection of technology, privacy, and financial regulation. Unlike licensed casinos, which are mandated to enforce strict age limits, disclose odds, and provide responsible gambling resources, these illegal digital venues operate almost without constraint.Key Failure Points
- Lax KYC and Age Checks: Many sites require little more than a phone number or email for registration. Age verification, when present at all, is trivially bypassed.
- Payment Evasion: With intermediaries willing to process dubious transactions and cash-on-delivery options available, closing the payments loophole has proven elusive.
- Fragmented Enforcement: The proliferation of mirror and proxy websites outpaces government takedown efforts, while international hosting complicates jurisdiction.
- Glitzy Marketing: Celebrity campaigns and SEO tactics blur the distinction between legal and illegal offerings, tricking users into thinking they’re engaging with trusted brands.
A Deep Dive: How Platforms Pull in Young Users
Much of the surge in youth engagement comes down to the platforms’ expertly crafted user journey. The “direct access” model means fewer points of friction and minimal chances for parents or guardians to intervene. That, combined with frictionless onboarding, pushes minors onto the platform before anyone can even notice.Addictive Design: Gamification Used Against Kids
The designs themselves incorporate elements such as:- Streak Rewards: Users earn bonuses for playing consecutive days—a mechanic ripped straight from social media and mobile gaming ecosystems.
- Leaderboard Mechanics: Adolescents compete with peers for status, nudging them toward higher, riskier bets.
- Intermittent Rewards: Small, unpredictable payouts trigger dopamine hits, keeping users glued longer.
Meanwhile, the platforms have even begun to infiltrate gaming subcultures: Discord servers and gaming forums advertise betting “IDs” (accounts) as part of the gaming experience, normalizing risk-taking among impressionable users. The blurring of lines between entertainment and gambling is proving dangerous for a generation raised online.
The Mirrored Battlefield: Technical Sophistication vs. Enforcement
Another critical strength of these platforms is operational resilience. Take-down notices, government blocks, and online policing often target a single domain at a time. But with mirror sites—exact duplicates accessible through slightly altered web addresses—operators can restore service within minutes, keeping gamblers in play and law enforcement perennially behind the curve.The top platforms reportedly ran over 40 mirror sites each as of 2025, creating a whack-a-mole effect that soaks up enforcement resources but yields little disruption in user access or deposit flows.
What Draws in Billions? The Marketing Machine
High-profile media buys, celebrity endorsements, and digital marketing blitzes have turned what once might have been marginal black markets into mainstream consumer destinations. The report details the key elements:- Prime-Time Billboards: Strategic placements in urban centers, often timed for peak sports seasons or major cricket events.
- Influencer Campaigns: Sports personalities and social media celebrities endorse or mention gambling platforms, directly or obliquely.
- SEO Manipulation: Aggressive effort to ensure that searches for popular betting-related terms push illegal operators to the top of the results page—or at least ensure their mirror sites remain visible when one goes dark.
Consumer Protection Gaps: Real-World Harm
The fallout from this unchecked ecosystem is already visible:- Addiction and Mental Health: A growing body of research links youth gambling with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and academic failure.
- Financial Destruction: Minors racking up unsupervised debts, often with life-changing consequences for themselves and their families.
- Fraud and Abuse: Without legal accountability, users are routinely defrauded—winnings can vanish, accounts can be seized with no recourse, and personal data can be harvested for further criminal activity.
- Societal Tolls: The normalization of gambling skews risk perception, undermines educational ambitions, and can set lifelong addiction patterns well before legal adulthood.
Regulatory Stasis: Why Have Efforts Failed?
The Indian legal environment is notoriously fragmented when it comes to online gambling enforcement. Although gambling remains largely illegal under current law except for a few state-approved activities (notably lotteries, horse racing, and select casinos), federal enforcement is hamstrung by:- Outdated Statutes: Laws drafted in the pre-digital era offer little clarity about online activities.
- Jurisdictional Confusion: States and the central government often disagree about who has the right to regulate or police online content and payment systems.
- International Safe Havens: Most illegal operators are domiciled in countries with weak extradition treaties and little incentive to shut down profitable enterprises.
International Parallels: A Global Risk and Response
India’s predicament is not unique. Across the world, regulators have struggled to contain offshore operators who evade national law by moving money, data, and hosting overseas. Jurisdictions like the United Kingdom, Australia, and several European nations have developed stronger KYC requirements, age gating, and payment blacklists—but even here, the battle remains live as ever-evolving methods keep enforcement one step behind.India, with its unique youth demographics and high smartphone penetration, is a particularly lucrative market. Without urgent policy innovation, the country could soon see the social and financial costs escalate further.
What Must Change? Towards A Safer Digital Future
The path forward is neither simple nor short. But ignoring the crisis any longer risks embedding gambling addiction and financial exploitation into India’s digital DNA. Solutions, experts argue, must be multipronged.Policy and Technical Recommendations
- Mandatory Digital KYC: Enforce non-negotiable, real-time identity verification (integrated with Aadhaar or similar).
- Stronger Payment Controls: Mandate that UPI, credit card networks, and wallet services block transactions with known or suspected gambling operators.
- Algorithmic Content Monitoring: Leverage AI and digital surveillance to rapidly flag and block mirror sites.
- Stricter Advertising Controls: Prohibit celebrity endorsements and campaigns of unlicensed operators, with heavy penalties for violations.
- Media Literacy Programs: Scale up adolescent education on digital addiction, gambling risks, and scam awareness.
- International Cooperation: Partner with fintech and law enforcement agencies globally to shut down payment cross-border flows and extradite kingpins.
The Role of Tech Giants and Social Platforms
Search engines, payment processors, and social media companies are critical gatekeepers. Their proactive involvement—flagging gambling links, demoting illegal domains in search rankings, and shutting down advertising pipelines—is essential if real progress is to be made.Critical Analysis: Strengths, Risks, and the Road Ahead
Notable Strengths in Raising Awareness
The scale and rigor of the CUTS International report mark a watershed moment for public understanding. By quantifying user traffic, economic scale, and the technical modus operandi of gambling syndicates, the report offers the evidence needed to galvanize policymakers, parents, and technology companies.Highlighting the normalization tactics—via influencer marketing and SEO—adds crucial detail for anyone working to counteract these narratives and educate young users.
Persistent—and Growing—Dangers
Nevertheless, the very existence of cash-on-delivery gambling, combined with near-zero barriers to entry, shows how far behind enforcement currently lags. Even as awareness rises, the sophistication and scale of these networks continue to grow—lured by profits and emboldened by international safe havens.Perhaps the gravest concern is the criminalization and exploitation of children, who are exposed to life-altering risks at a formative age, often without family knowledge or intervention. Without decisive action, a full-blown epidemic of youth gambling disorder is not merely possible, but likely.
The Questions of Accountability
Finally, responsibility in this crisis is diffuse. Operators, regulators, celebrities, and digital platforms all share part of the blame for the current situation. But coordinated action—and genuine accountability—remain elusive. Until incentives align around protecting vulnerable users, piecemeal enforcement will continue to fall short.Conclusion: A Race Against Time
The revelations from India’s illegal gambling surge should serve as a red flag not just for local policymakers, but for the world. As markets grow digitally interconnected, every country will increasingly depend on robust, adaptive policy strategies—not just to preserve consumer rights, but to protect the next generation’s mental health, economic stability, and overall well-being.Failure to act will mean surrendering vast swathes of the youth population to platforms designed to profit from their vulnerabilities. To tilt the scales in favor of public interest, India and its partners must commit to rapid reform, aggressive enforcement, and relentless public education—before the cost becomes truly irreparable.
Source: lokmattimes.com Illegal gambling platforms putting minors and youth at risk: Report - www.lokmattimes.com
