{"id":143796,"date":"2025-05-30T09:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T09:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143796\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T09:56:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T09:56:23","slug":"real-money-gambling-addiction-debt-fraud-and-a-nation-trapped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143796\/","title":{"rendered":"Real money gambling: Addiction, debt, fraud, and a nation trapped"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated June 2, 2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sweltering afternoon in Brahimpur in east Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Sultanpur district, but 35-year-old farmer Surya Pratap Singh seems oblivious to it. He is sitting beneath a neem tree, furiously tapping his phone screen. Around him, a few plastic chairs and a charpoy make up what is probably Brahimpur gram sabha\u2019s unofficial gaming lounge. The game of choice isn\u2019t played with dice or cards, it\u2019s all digital instead, be it ludo, fantasy cricket or online rummy. The stakes? They are very real. \u201cThis has been our routine for years,\u201d says Surya Pratap. \u201cNo matter what I\u2019m doing, I have to play. I need Rs 2,000-3,000 every day just to get by… I know I won\u2019t win. But I cannot stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surya Pratap\u2019s addiction has cost him not just money but peace of mind, familial ties and self-esteem too. He has logged some 19,500 games on his app, often wagering thousands in a single round. On one particularly devastating day, he lost Rs 1.5 lakh, convinced that he was about to win it all back. \u201cI thought I was having a heart attack,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

Surya Pratap is but one symptom of the digital gambling epidemic sweeping through India\u2014from rural Uttar Pradesh to urban Hyderabad, from farmers to professionals, from students to pensioners\u2014driven by smartphones, cheap data, quick online payments and the \u2018gamification\u2019 of aspiration. According to a report by WinZO Games and the Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council (IEIC), India\u2019s gaming market stood at $3.7 billion (Rs 31,500 crore) in 2024 and is projected to surge to $9.1 billion (Rs 78,000 crore) by 2029, growing at a blistering compound annual growth rate of 19.6 per cent. A separate estimate by Statista Market Insights puts India\u2019s online sports betting market alone at $2.19 billion (Rs 18,700 crore) in 2025. India now accounts for over 20 per cent of global gaming users and around 8.6 billion app downloads, more than the next two biggest markets\u2014the US and Brazil\u2014combined. The real driver of this growth? The phenomenon of Real Money Gaming (RMG), which contributes 86 per cent of industry revenue. Millions are staking money on outcomes every day on these online platforms\u2014it isn\u2019t just about games anymore, they are now entire economic ecosystems unto themselves. Digital ludo, for instance, matches users, often with similar skill or stake levels, and lets them compete for the pooled-in entry fees. Similarly, fantasy cricket\u2014think Dream 11, My11Circle et al\u2014involves creating virtual teams of real players; users earn points and money based on actual match performances (see Major Online Players).<\/p>\n

The surge in RMG has not only fuelled widespread addiction, pushing many users into a debt trap, but also opened the door to more insidious threats: money laundering, cyber fraud and even terror financing. As this booming industry spirals beyond control, the government is beginning to take serious note. While several regulatory measures have been rolled out over the past few years, top officials in the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) say the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is now preparing a report recommending a new central law. The proposed legislation could bring the entire spectrum of online gaming, gambling, betting and lotteries under one federal framework\u2014with provisions for steep fines and prison terms of up to three years for violations.<\/p>\n

THE SKILL-CHANCE MIRAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legal framework for gambling in India remains anchored in the colonial-era Public Gambling Act of 1867, which distinguishes between \u2018games of skill\u2019 and \u2018games of chance\u2019. The former\u2014like rummy or fantasy cricket\u2014are legal, while the latter, such as roulette or slot apps, fall in the ambit of gambling and are generally banned. In a 1957 ruling (State of Bombay vs R.M.D. Chamarbaugwala), the Supreme Court reinforced this principle, saying that only games where success is predominantly determined by skill can avoid being classified as gambling. That preponderance test continues to shape legal interpretations even today.<\/p>\n

But, in the online space, this divide has grown fuzzy. Platforms often promote themselves as skill-based to dodge regulation. Experts argue that even games requiring some level of skill can be manipulated with mechanisms like flashy visuals, near-misses and random rewards\u2014known to trigger dopamine rushes akin to gambling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHope is a powerful thing,\u201d says Surya Pratap, a sentiment echoed by mental health professionals. Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, a professor of clinical psychology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, and coordinator of the SHUT (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic, says that many users initially engage with RMG platforms out of curiosity, but gradually slip into what is called the \u2018gambler\u2019s fallacy\u2019, or the hope that a win will follow a losing streak. \u201cPeople getting addicted are often driven by their financial or psychological needs, after seeing someone else win,\u201d he says. \u201cThey believe they can reverse their fortunes, and keep investing more despite mounting losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SHUT Clinic saw few such cases till 2017, says Dr Sharma. Now, at least one patient a month reports addiction to online gambling or high-risk trading. Advertisements glamorising \u201cbig wins\u201d\u2014often with celebrity endorsements\u2014only reel the victims in deeper. \u201cSuch endorsements build a false sense of trust,\u201d explains Dr Sharma. A 2022 study by the global consultancy KPMG supports this view, revealing that 40 per cent of young adults in India, aged 18-25, were influenced by such promotional content, with many coming to perceive online gambling as a safe, even lucrative, activity.<\/p>\n

THE EXTERNAL THREAT<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 2023 report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance warned that lax oversight is turning gaming portals into pipelines for terror financing, after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) traced laundered funds to extremist groups. Watchdog platforms such as the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism also warn that extremist groups are using in-game chats and forums to recruit and radicalise vulnerable users.<\/p>\n

A report by India\u2019s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in 2022 pegged money flow through gaming platforms at Rs 2,000 crore, much of it untaxed and untraceable. Many illegal betting platforms also allow users to place bets using cash, bypassing the digital record entirely, according to a 2024 report by the Security and Scientific Technical Research Association (SASTRA) of Rashtriya Raksha University, Gandhinagar. In one high-profile case in 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized Rs 17.82 crore in cash and over Rs 22 crore in Bitcoin from a platform called E-nuggets, allegedly operated by Chinese nationals. According to Ananay Jain, director at risk advisory firm Grant Thornton Bharat, foreign-controlled apps, especially those from China, raise national security concerns due to potential ties with surveillance networks and data harvesting.<\/p>\n

The avenue is proving a godsend for other devilish deeds as well. \u201cAs online gaming and betting platforms proliferate in India, so do the risks of financial fraud, data theft and phishing scams,\u201d says Jain. In a 2022 CERT-In report, online financial frauds linked to gaming platforms were found to have surged by 55 per cent.<\/p>\n

Rohit Sharma, a research fellow at the Union ministry of defence\u2019s think-tank MP-IDSA, points to the 2024 Fiewin case\u2014a gaming app run by Chinese operators that laundered nearly Rs 400 crore from Indian users\u2014as a wake-up call. \u201cThe app used false promises of high returns to deceive users,\u201d says Sharma. The ED\u2019s probe into Fiewin revealed a web of international transactions routed through \u2018mule\u2019 accounts and cryptocurrency wallets\u2014making detection and enforcement exceedingly difficult.<\/p>\n

The jurisdictional grey zone these platforms operate in exacerbates the problem. Many are registered in tax havens like Malta, Cyprus and Curacao, well out of the reach of Indian regulators. They regularly violate multiple Indian laws, including the Foreign Exchange Management Act, Payment and Settlement Systems Act, Information Technology Act, and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).<\/p>\n

The very foundation of what counts as legal or illegal gaming remains blurred, says Kriti Singh, associate director and programme manager (online gaming) at The Dialogue, a tech policy think-tank. \u201cDespite some legal clarity, regulatory ambiguity has created an environment where offshore platforms thrive in the grey areas, often masquerading as skill-based games. This leaves consumers vulnerable to mental and financial harm,\u201d she warns. \u201cA comprehensive national framework that clearly distinguishes between games of skill and games of chance is essential to protect users and increase accountability.\u201d Jain agrees. \u201cWe urgently need a SEBI-like regulator for gaming,\u201d he says, \u201cone that mandates licensing, audits and public education to curb addiction.\u201d Sharma weighs in, saying, \u201cCompliance with Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, such as publishing an Indian contact address and adhering to the \u2018purpose limitation\u2019 principle, is critical to preventing such abuses.\u201d (Purpose limitation means personal data should be used only for the specific, legitimate purposes for which it was collected.)<\/p>\n

CRACKING THE WHIP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responding to the growing menace, the government has initiated a string of reforms. In December 2022, the Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) was appointed the nodal authority for online gaming. The ministry revised the IT Rules, 2021, in April 2023 to strengthen the regulation of online gaming intermediaries. Platforms must now conduct age verification, provide grievance redressal and comply with strict KYC (Know Your Customer) norms. Till February 2025, MeitY had also blocked 1,410 non-compliant websites\/apps. Fresh measures introduced in March this year are designed to protect users from illegal gambling, data theft and addiction, while ensuring the industry remains accountable and transparent.<\/p>\n

In addition, over the past two years, the government has imposed a 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the full value of bets, and a 30 per cent income tax on net winnings, aimed at both curbing casual gambling and ensuring financial transparency. The Centre is also working towards including RMG platforms under the PMLA, effectively classifying them as \u2018reporting entities\u2019. When implemented, it would require these platforms to enforce stricter KYC norms, maintain detailed transaction records and report suspicious activity to the FIU.<\/p>\n

Tamil Nadu has gone a step further, rolling out detailed rules for its Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, in February this year. These mandate gaming curfews between midnight and 5 am, pop-up warnings after an hour of play and caps on user spending. States like Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have launched similar crackdowns to impose a blanket ban on RMG while Kerala tried to outlaw playing rummy for stakes. Most of these efforts have either stumbled in the courts or been circumvented by virtual private networks (VPNs)\u2014a backdoor access to banned sites.<\/p>\n

The stricter measures have also driven many users toward offshore platforms that dodge Indian laws, helped along by the jurisdictional maze. While online gaming is a digital industry, transcending geographical boundaries, gambling is a state subject under the Constitution. Most states exempt games of skill from gambling restrictions. While Goa permits licensed physical casinos (games of chance), states like Nagaland, Sikkim and Meghalaya have introduced licensing frameworks specifically for online gaming. This mismatch complicates enforcement, leaving grey areas for platforms to exploit.<\/p>\n

When MeitY took charge of online gaming in 2022, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had called for \u201ca central law\u201d to regulate the sector. The I4C under the MHA is now working in this direction. Government insiders claim that several \u2018giant\u2019 platforms are under the lens for flouting existing rules. Once a new law is passed, accountability could also extend to the celebrities and influencers who endorse such platforms.<\/p>\n

THE SELF-REGULATION PUSH<\/strong><\/p>\n

To its credit, the industry has begun some self-regulation. On March 10, key industry bodies\u2014the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and the E-Gaming Federation (EGF)\u2014announced a \u2018Code of Ethics\u2019 (CoE), as a culmination of efforts initiated by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). The members of these bodies include popular platforms like Dream11, MyTeam11, Zupee, A23 and Junglee Games. The CoE is aimed at enforcing consistent standards of user safety across the industry through the implementation of responsible gaming and advertising policies. It also mandates annual third-party audits and comprehensive reporting mechanisms to ensure accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n

Roland Landers, CEO of the AIGF, tells india today that one advantage of operating as a digital platform is the ability to monitor user behaviour. \u201cIf we detect patterns of excessive use, we can step in and take preventive action,\u201d he says, while also stressing that \u201cself-awareness and restraint from users are equally important\u201d. According to Landers, only 15-20 per cent of users of these skill-based gaming apps engage in monetary transactions; most stick to low-denomination games. \u201cSerious losses are more often associated with illegal platforms,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Ravi Shankar Jha, director of public policy at Zupee, which offers RMGs like ludo and trump cards, believes regulation is key to addressing the issue. \u201cThe only way to address this imbalance is through regulations that separate legitimate skill gaming entities from illegal ones,\u201d he says. In the absence of clear recognition, Jha argues, users are unable to distinguish legal operators\u2014who \u201cpromote responsible gaming\u201d\u2014from offshore betting and gambling sites.<\/p>\n

Yet, the human toll of this epidemic is impossible to ignore. Many a time, the harmless-looking gaming apps become gateways to illegal betting apps\u2014out of lack of awareness, financial need or sheer greed. On April 16, a 25-year-old MTech student in Hyderabad took his life after losing money in online betting, a grim reminder of the larger-than-life menace RMG is.<\/p>\n

While the government\u2019s multi-pronged crackdown may rein in some abuses, enforcement remains a game of whack-a-mole. A Digital India Foundation report released on March 15 found that just four illegal betting platforms attracted a total of 1.6 billion visits in three months. Mirror sites, like those run by the Cyprus-headquartered sports betting giant PariMatch, alone contributed 266 million visits\u2014dodging bans with ever-changing domains.<\/p>\n

Without faster, smarter regulation, these platforms will keep thriving in the shadows. But the real battle isn\u2019t just shutting down rogue apps; it\u2019s changing the narrative\u2014from addiction to awareness, from easy money to informed choice. Until then Surya Pratap, and millions like him, will remain prisoners of a costly addiction.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to India Today Magazine<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published By: <\/p>\n

Shyam Balasubramanian<\/p>\n

Published On: <\/p>\n

May 28, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated June 2, 2025) It\u2019s a sweltering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[62092,13313,62088,62086,6732,45804,36837,16017,62085,105,218,62089,5240,62090,62091,62084,62087,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-143796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-casino-app","9":"tag-cyber-crime","10":"tag-electronic-fraud","11":"tag-fantasy-cricket-app","12":"tag-gambling","13":"tag-gambling-addiction","14":"tag-gambling-apps","15":"tag-gaming-addiction","16":"tag-gaming-apps","17":"tag-health","18":"tag-mental-health","19":"tag-online-casino","20":"tag-online-gambling","21":"tag-online-poker","22":"tag-poker-app","23":"tag-real-money-gambling","24":"tag-real-money-gaming","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114596190691229049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}