India says it has blocked 8,376 betting and gambling URLs as offshore access continues

India has intensified its digital gambling crackdown, with the government telling Parliament that 8,376 betting- and gambling-linked URLs had been blocked or otherwise actioned by March 28, even as offshore access remains a stubborn challenge.

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology disclosed in a Lok Sabha reply on April 1 that 8,376 URLs connected to online betting, gambling and gaming had been blocked or actioned as of March 28. According to reporting on the parliamentary response, Minister of State Jitin Prasada said the figure includes offshore-linked platforms, showing how central cross-border operators have become to India’s enforcement agenda.

The number also underlines how sharply enforcement has accelerated since the 2025 online gaming law took effect. MediaNama, citing the ministry’s response, reported that more than 4,800 of the blocked URLs were actioned after the Online Gaming Act, 2025 came into force, making the law a key pillar of India’s current campaign against real-money betting and gambling online.

Yet the latest figures also point to the limits of blocking alone. A December 2025 CUTS International survey of 1,000 users in Delhi NCR found offshore usage rising from 68.3 percent before the ban to 82 percent afterward, a 13.7 percentage-point shift and a 20.1 percent relative increase. The same report said daily offshore play jumped from 3.4 percent to 42.3 percent, suggesting that some users did not leave gambling platforms altogether but instead migrated toward foreign sites outside direct domestic control. The study also notes that its findings are self-reported and limited to Delhi NCR rather than the entire country.

That tension is now defining India’s online gambling policy. On one side, the government is clearly expanding use of the IT Act, the 2021 intermediary rules, criminal law and the 2025 gaming law to pressure platforms and cut off access. On the other, the persistence of offshore participation suggests enforcement is becoming a moving-target battle against mirror domains, shifting URLs and foreign-hosted services that remain reachable even after specific blocks are imposed. This final point is an inference based on the government’s blocking data and the CUTS research findings.

For India’s gambling market, the latest disclosure is significant not just because of the scale of the crackdown, but because it shows the next phase of regulation may be judged less by how many sites are blocked and more by whether authorities can actually reduce user migration to offshore platforms. Until that gap narrows, India’s legal offensive will look forceful on paper while the underlying demand continues to leak abroad. This final assessment is an inference grounded in the parliamentary figures and the post-ban user survey.