India is witnessing a sharp increase in advertisements for offshore betting platforms, creating a significant challenge for regulators. Despite a national ban on real money gaming, these ads have proliferated across social media, billboards, and even public transport, leading to a 70% surge in public complaints.
What Are Offshore Betting Apps and Their Legal Status?
Offshore betting apps are online gambling platforms that are operated and hosted outside of India's jurisdiction. They are typically based in international tax havens such as Jamaica, Curaçao, and Gibraltar. Indian users can access these platforms through websites, mobile apps, and even Telegram channels to place bets on sports, lotteries, and casino games, often using cryptocurrencies or international payment gateways.
While the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 has banned real money gaming within India, this law does not extend to offshore entities. This legal gap allows apps like 1xBet, 1xWin, Stake, and Parimatch to continue targeting Indian users. They primarily advertise through influencers, social media content, and surrogate ads, where they promote seemingly innocent products like sports news or merchandise to bypass restrictions.
Why Are These Ads Under Increased Scrutiny Now?
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has placed these platforms under a microscope due to an overwhelming volume of public grievances. According to ASCI's latest half-yearly report for April-September 2025, complaints against advertisements rose by 70%. The number of ads reviewed by the council more than doubled, showing a 102% increase from the previous year, driven overwhelmingly by betting-related content.
During this six-month period, ASCI registered a total of 6,841 complaints. Alarmingly, about two-thirds of these complaints were specifically against offshore betting apps, highlighting the scale of the problem.
Where Are These Ads and Who is Endorsing Them?
The vast majority of these problematic ads are found online. The ASCI report indicates that a staggering 79% of the ad complaints it processed were related to content on Meta platforms, namely Instagram and Facebook. Offshore betting apps were responsible for most of the violations of both ASCI's code and various Indian advertising laws.
The advertising tactics are often subtle and integrated into everyday content. Logos of apps like Stake appear in the background of memes and short videos. Banners for surrogate ads pop up in mobile games and during live streams of major sporting events. Beyond the digital world, some apps have taken their campaigns to physical spaces, placing ads on billboards and inside the Mumbai Metro Rail.
These campaigns often feature high-profile celebrities. Prominent cricketers like Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, and Shikhar Dhawan have endorsed these apps in the past. Actors such as Vijay Deverakonda, Sonu Sood, Rana Daggubati, and Prakash Raj have also been associated with them, with several now being questioned by investigative agencies.
What Action is Being Taken and What Does the Future Hold?
In response to the surge, ASCI has reported more than 4,500 offshore betting app ads to various government bodies, including the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, and the Directorate General of GST Intelligence.
Enforcement actions are also underway. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over ₹11 crore belonging to cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan. Simultaneously, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Telangana has been questioning actors Vijay Deverakonda and Prakash Raj as part of its probe.
Looking forward, the situation remains a legal grey area. Monitoring and removing such ads from the vast expanse of social media and the open internet is a formidable task. Sponsored posts by smaller influencers are particularly hard to distinguish from organic content, making a subtle logo or brand plug difficult to identify and report. These offshore apps continue to exploit loopholes in both gaming and advertising laws, a tactic also used by other restricted industries like pan masala and alcohol, which advertise surrogate products such as elaichi and music CDs.
