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If “Ocean’s Thirteen” Were Filmed Today…
Illegal gambling and betting websites are rapidly expanding in India. In 2023, the Parliamentary Committee on Finance identified them as key tools for money laundering and terrorist financing.
🔍 Why Are They Still Operating?
Despite government attempts to block these sites and issue warnings, illegal operators continue their activities. They use:
- Marketing strategies
- Convenient payment methods
- Mirror websites
📊 Scale of the Problem
In just three months, four major platforms (Parimatch, Stake, 1xBet, Batery Bet) amassed 1.6 billion visits. Moreover, only three mirror sites of Parimatch generated an additional 266 million visits — showing that the true scale is even larger.
📈 Growing Interest in Betting
Google data reveals a sharp increase in searches for popular platforms (Dafabet, 1xBet, Parimatch, and others) between February 2021 and December 2024. The spikes in interest align with the Indian Premier League seasons (March-April) in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
💡 How Do They Attract Users?
Illegal bookmakers use multiple channels to attract customers:
- Social media — brought in around 42.8 million visits in three months
- Search engines — generated 184 million visits due to high rankings in search results
- Advertising partners and adult content sites — delivered 247.5 million visits
- Direct link traffic — 1.1 billion visits, showing the effectiveness of prior ads and referrals
💸 How Are Payments Made?
Operators offer various payment options, including:
- Transfers via UPI (using fake accounts)
- Cryptocurrencies
- International payment systems (e.g., AstroPay)
- Some payment processors attempt to block suspicious transactions, but not always effectively.