India's Online Betting Ban Fails as Black Market Thrives

A year ago, India passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA), which imposed a total ban on online real money games. The law was designed to curb online betting, but it appears to have had little effect.

An investigation by the Enforcement Directorate found that a banned gambling app and its sister websites are still operational, with estimated losses of ₹90,000 crore (approximately $11 billion USD).

The agency discovered that the operators were using 'mule' bank accounts to launder money, with some assets frozen at ₹2,000 crore. Despite these findings, the masterminds behind the operation remain out of reach, having taken up residence in Oman and Vanuatu.

This is not an isolated incident; a similar case involving cryptocurrency was highlighted recently, where RBI officials admitted that 'not having a policy is also a policy'. The lack of regulation has led to sharp practices, including bots being used to rig games and players being shortchanged.