Betting Apps Defy Bans: The Endless Game of Digital Whack-a-Mole
In Hyderabad and across India, a digital cat-and-mouse game is unfolding between authorities and illegal online betting platforms. Despite being named in investigation records and banned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), these betting applications are not disappearing from the digital landscape. Instead, they are resurfacing almost immediately under new domain names while retaining the same brands, user interfaces, and back-end systems that made them popular among users.
The Mirror Site Strategy: A Digital Shell Game
An extensive analysis of betting websites reveals that platforms including Hublibook, VLbook, Yolo247, Jeetwin, Fairplay, Parimatch, 1xBet, and Betpro do not operate through single websites. These platforms run sophisticated networks of mirror and clone sites, creating a resilient ecosystem that allows users to continue betting even after specific URLs or IP addresses are blocked or cited in First Information Reports (FIRs) or prosecution complaints.
For investigators pursuing these cases, each domain that appears in a charge sheet often represents just one visible face of a much larger, constantly shifting structure. These applications offer comprehensive betting services on various sports events including cricket, football, and horse racing, along with card games and online casino products that continue to attract users despite legal restrictions.
How Mirror Sites Keep the Betting Engine Alive
A mirror site functions as a duplicate website hosted under a different domain while offering identical services. Built specifically to evade government bans and legal actions, these clones carry identical layouts, logos, odds tables, and login systems—with only the web address changing. Once a brand is named in an FIR or added to an official block list, traffic is quietly diverted to fresh URLs that regulators have yet to identify and target.
These platforms also aggressively promote online casino games, enabling users to play real-money titles such as roulette, blackjack, and other gambling products that fall under prohibited categories according to Indian laws.
Cyber forensic expert Patibandla Prasad explained to investigators that betting companies typically register multiple domains well in advance of any enforcement action. "When one domain is blocked, traffic is immediately redirected to an alternative domain to ensure uninterrupted access for users. Technically, the business never goes offline; only one door is closed at a time," he noted, adding that these applications frequently change IP addresses to evade detection and blocking mechanisms implemented by authorities.
The Offshore Connection and Scale of Operations
Investigators have uncovered that approximately 680 betting companies are registered in Curacao, with at least 50 of these actively operating in the Indian market. In this offshore-heavy ecosystem, cycling through large batches of domains is not an exception but rather a core business strategy designed to maintain continuity despite regulatory pressures.
1xBet and Its Shape-Shifting Surrogates
The Enforcement Directorate's prosecution complaint places 1xBet at the center of this operational model. The document describes the platform as "an illegal but popular online betting service" offering sports betting, live betting, and gambling products including casino games, 1xGAMES, TV games, bingo, and IPL betting. The service also operates mobile applications compatible with both Android and iOS platforms.
According to the complaint, 1xBet did not halt operations after being banned. Instead, it continued by launching mirror domains and surrogate brands such as '1xBat', '1xBat Sporting Lines', and '1xBat Games', creating a network of interconnected platforms that maintain the same core services under slightly different branding.
Online researchers tracking regulatory blocklists note that 1xBet-related sites appear most frequently on international blacklists, with nearly 1,800 website addresses across multiple name variants. This scale highlights how mirror sites and brand spin-offs effectively blur the line between a single platform and an entire ecosystem of interconnected gambling services.
Hublibook and Its 365 Twin
Hublibook illustrates how direct mirroring operates in practice. While the core site, hublibook.com, remains active, a parallel site—hublibook365.com—operates with similar branding and features, creating redundancy in the system.
For users, the transition between blocked and active sites is almost seamless. A blocked link shared in messaging groups is quickly replaced with a new address that loads an identical dashboard. For law enforcement agencies, however, each fresh domain requires a new round of notices, blocking requests, and legal references, creating a significant administrative burden.
As a result, Hublibook appears in official records not as a single website but as part of a wider, continuously mutating network that adapts to enforcement actions.
VLbook's Changing Faces and Brand Splintering
VLbook demonstrates how brands splinter once flagged by authorities. After vlbook.co was reported and targeted, it reappeared as vlbook.club and vlbook.org.in, maintaining the core identity while changing the domain extension.
Investigators have identified a broader pattern with this platform, noting variations including "VLbook, vlbook.*, vvbook.co, dhanibook365.com, telugu365.in, yes365, etc." Telangana CID FIRs specifically name VLbook among banned betting applications operating in the region.
The shifting extensions—.co, .club, .org.in—and offshoots retaining familiar terms like "book" or "365" help reassure users of continuity while staying just beyond immediate block lists. Other betting applications promoted on VLbook-linked sites include Mylaser247, Reddybook, Cricbet99, Fairplay Pro, and Allpanelexch, indicating a network of interconnected gambling services.
Yolo247 and the Affiliate Web Structure
Mapping of Yolo247 reveals a layered operational structure. While yolo247.com remains active as the primary platform, affiliate domains such as yolo247.club and yolo247.site are utilized by Indian ID sellers who facilitate user access.
These smaller sites often carry the same logos, color schemes, and promotional content but function primarily as funnels—onboarding users, assigning betting IDs, and redirecting them to the main platform or its latest mirror site, creating a distributed architecture that complicates enforcement efforts.
Parimatch, Mostbet and the Curacao Connection
Parimatch follows a similar pattern of mirror site deployment. While parimatch.com serves as the global face of the operation, investigators have identified multiple mirrors including parimatchwin.in, parimatchwin104.com, parimatchwin.com, parimatch.md, and ruparimatch.com, creating redundancy across different domain registrations.
Mostbet's operation demonstrates even greater expansiveness. Investigators estimate that this platform runs approximately 40 mirror sites, indicating a pre-planned reserve of backup domains ready to absorb traffic whenever one address is blocked by authorities.
Geoblocks, Rotating Servers and the VPN Loophole
On paper, government bans appear straightforward: once flagged, access should be blocked within specific geographic regions. However, investigators note that despite bans—initially limited to Telangana and now extended nationwide—many betting websites remain accessible due to sophisticated IP masking techniques.
Servers rotate dynamically, spreading traffic across constantly changing IP addresses, which complicates enforcement efforts tied to static block lists maintained by internet service providers.
Users further bypass restrictions through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which create encrypted tunnels between the user and a remote server. This technology prevents ISPs from filtering traffic effectively and makes users appear to be accessing sites from outside India or from jurisdictions where no ban exists, creating a significant enforcement challenge.
The result is a resilient system where, despite nationwide bans and enforcement actions, the same betting brands remain just a few clicks away for users willing to follow new links and route their traffic through VPN services, highlighting the ongoing challenges in regulating digital gambling platforms in India's evolving online landscape.
