8,376 website URLs linked to online betting and gambling have been blocked or actioned by the government as of March 28, 2026. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) revealed this on April 1, 2026, in a Lok Sabha response to an unstarred question on offshore digital platforms and their impact on users. Notably, more than 4,800 of these blocks followed the enactment of the Online Gaming Act, 2025, which prohibited online money gaming.
Laws governing online gambling platforms:
- Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) + Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules): These require intermediaries, including offshore platforms, to exercise due diligence and prevent unlawful or harmful content. Non-compliance attracts liability.
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS): This criminalises unauthorised betting and gambling, with penalties ranging from 1 to 7 years’ imprisonment, along with fines.
- Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (PROG Act): This prohibits online money gaming and restricts related financial transactions and advertisements.
- Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (IGST Act): This imposes a 28% GST and enables blocking of unregistered offshore platforms through the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI).
Offshore gambling use persists after the ban: Offshore betting and gambling platforms continue to expand despite India’s ban on real-money gaming. A December 2025 CUTS International survey in Delhi NCR found that usage rose from 68.3% pre-ban to 82% post-ban, a 20.1% relative increase.
Moreover, daily access surged from 3.4% to 42.3%, with longer sessions and higher monthly spending. Users also bypass restrictions through mirror domains and domestic payment methods like UPI. Similarly, a January 2026 CUTS survey in Tamil Nadu reported a 15.2% rise in offshore platform usage after the ban.
Scale of offshore gambling: Experts at a MediaNama panel discussion on the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (PROG Act) in September 2025 highlighted the scale of offshore gaming. Dhruv Garg, Partner at IGAP, said, “Conservatively speaking, it’s a $20 billion industry.” He added that this money is “going out of the country illegally,” noting that “the tax evasion is more than $4 billion,” surpassing domestic industry revenues.
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