India sees surge in offshore betting ads despite real-money gaming ban

Offshore betting promotions are still reaching Indian users months after the country banned online money games and related advertising, raising fresh questions about enforcement, social media monitoring and the role of influencers.

India is seeing a continued rise in offshore betting advertisements despite the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which prohibits the offering, operation, promotion, advertisement and participation in online money games, including services operating from foreign jurisdictions. The Act also includes provisions on fund transfers, blocking of online money gaming services and penalties for violations.

The Advertising Standards Council of India reported that offshore betting advertisements accounted for 72.14% of all advertising violations flagged during FY26, making them the largest category of concern in its latest annual complaints report. ASCI recorded an average of 594 offshore betting ads per month in the eight months before PROGA was passed in August 2025; in the four months after the law took effect, the monthly average rose to 795.

Overall, ASCI identified and escalated 7,927 offshore betting advertisements during 2025, including 6,933 ads monitored between April and December. The watchdog also reviewed 11,581 cases during FY26, up 21% from the previous year, while the number of advertisements scrutinised rose 37% to 9,841.

The problem is mainly digital. ASCI said 97.3% of all advertising violations scrutinised during FY26 originated online, while influencer marketing also became a major risk area. The body reviewed 1,609 influencer advertisements during the year and found that almost 97% required modification for guideline violations, with more than half linked to restricted categories, including illegal betting promotions.

The surge highlights one of the biggest weaknesses in India’s enforcement model: domestic real-money gaming companies have been heavily restricted, but offshore operators continue to reach users through social media, surrogate advertising, messaging channels, mirror domains and influencer-led promotion. Previous reporting has described how some offshore apps use sports-news pages, cricket and football updates, embedded links and informal influencer contracts to disguise betting promotion as entertainment or sports content.

Authorities have been trying to respond with takedowns and blocking. MeitY told Parliament that 8,376 website URLs linked to online betting and gambling had been blocked or actioned by March 28, 2026, with more than 4,800 of those blocks coming after the Online Gaming Act was enacted. However, offshore platforms continue to adapt through mirror domains, domestic payment routes and social media funnels.

Local enforcement also shows how betting ads overlap with broader fraud. In Hyderabad, cyber police took down 184 social media profiles in April 2026 that were promoting illegal online betting, gambling and fake investment schemes. Police said the profiles were linked to 801 paid ads targeting Indian users and used promises of easy money, referral commissions, IPL predictions and even deepfake videos of celebrities to attract victims.

For India, the rise in offshore betting ads shows that banning real-money games is only one part of the regulatory challenge. The harder task is controlling cross-border advertising, influencer networks, payments and repeat access through new domains. Without stronger cooperation between platforms, payment providers, advertising intermediaries and enforcement agencies, offshore betting brands may continue to fill the gap left by the domestic RMG ban.