India's gaming fans eye illegal sites after gambling ban
NEW DELHI: India’s ban on online gambling has shuttered a billion-dollar industry serving hundreds of millions of people and torpedoed the sponsorship of the national cricket team.
But players say those determined to bet will find ways to access overseas and unregulated websites while fans of fantasy-sport apps can still play, although for prizes rather than cash.
Adarsh Sharma, an advertising professional who regularly played fantasy-sport games, said offshore sites will ‘see a sudden boom’ as Indian gamblers look for a fix.
‘A habit once formed cannot be broken easily,’ he said. ‘It is an addiction and people will find ways to gamble.’
Last month, India’s parliament passed a sweeping law banning online gambling after government figures showed companies had stripped $2.3 billion a year from 450 million people.
Officials said the rapid spread of the platforms had caused widespread financial distress, addiction and suicide, while also being linked to fraud, money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The law has been challenged in court by a leading online card-games platform.
The ban affects websites and apps for card games and fantasy sports – including India’s wildly popular fantasy cricket – with offenders now facing up to five years in prison.
India’s online gamblers will have to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to trick overseas websites into thinking they are outside the country and proxy credit cards to place bets.
The whole process may seem too cumbersome for the average internet user, but gamblers know how to dodge the rules.
‘We have done this before and will do it again,’ one fan told AFP, asking not to be named. ‘We will go back to our old ways of making money.’
‘Love of cricket’
Technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the law separates still-legal eSports ‘from betting, gambling and fantasy-money games that exploit users with false promises of profit’.
Dream11 – which boasts of being the world’s largest fantasy-sports platform, with 260 million users – posted notices that ‘cash games and contests have been discontinued’.
It now offers prizes such as cars, phones and fridges instead.
Dream11 also pulled out of a US$43 million deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), its logo no longer splashed on the players’ jerseys.
Jamshed Noor, a butcher in Delhi, said his top win had been 600 rupees (about US$7), a day’s wage for a labourer.
‘We play it for the love of cricket,’ he said. ‘Money was definitely an attraction, but I still play, despite money being off the table now.’
The law will also shake up the wider sporting industry, including the hugely lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket competition.
‘Fantasy platforms are the most aggressive advertisers in IPL and world cricket,’ Karan Taurani of Elara Capital said, adding that they would now likely explore the overseas market.
Santosh N, of D and P Advisory, estimated that fantasy-sports and crypto platforms accounted for up to 40 per cent of the advertising revenue IPL broadcasters earned this year.
‘The fantasy guys will obviously reduce their ad spends because their business model is at stake – or actually destroyed by the ban,’ Santosh told AFP.
That will dent broadcasters’ revenue, meaning less cash for the league.
‘When the time comes for the BCCI to renew media rights in 2027, it could very well see a lower renewal premium because broadcasters can’t afford to pay that much anymore,’ he said.
By RSS/AFP
