Ban Backfires

How The Story Began

Users Still Getting In

Why Offshore Sites Thrive

Billions Of Visits

Following The Money

Legal Gaps 

Regulate Or Ban

What Happens Next

Despite a sweeping government crackdown, India's offshore real money gaming industry is not just surviving, it's booming. Offshore platforms like Parimatch and 1xBet exploited regulatory blind spots, processing 5.4 billion visits from Indian users by mid-2025. Using mirror sites, regional language interfaces, seamless UPI payments, and shadowy mule account networks, these platforms rendered the ban largely ineffective. Meanwhile, the domestic industry haemorrhaged 7,000 jobs lost, $840 million in asset writedowns, and $4 billion in tax revenue evaporated. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET’s  Disha Acharya and Ajay Rag about the story and raises an uncomfortable question: did the ban protect consumers, or simply hand the market to unregulated foreign operators?

Listen in.

<p>Despite a sweeping government crackdown, India's offshore real money gaming industry is not just surviving, it's booming. Offshore platforms like Parimatch and 1xBet exploited regulatory blind spots, processing 5.4 billion visits from Indian users by mid-2025. Using mirror sites, regional language interfaces, seamless UPI payments, and shadowy mule account networks, these platforms rendered the ban largely ineffective. Meanwhile, the domestic industry haemorrhaged 7,000 jobs lost, $840 million in asset writedowns, and $4 billion in tax revenue evaporated. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET&rsquo;s &nbsp;Disha Acharya and Ajay Rag about the story and raises an uncomfortable question: did the ban protect consumers, or simply hand the market to unregulated foreign operators?<br><br>Listen in.</p>

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