7800 Blocked and Counting — India’s Great Gambling Site Purge

Somewhere in the heart of New Delhi, a government leader reclined their chair, cracked their callused knuckles, and stared into the digital abyss with absolute disdain. The idea transpired right then and there. Block it. All of it. No, not a single site. Not just a handful of them either. 

How about 7,800 online betting and gambling websites? Oh, and if that was not enough, they have more contestants waiting their turn in line like a beauty pageant. 

According to Indian authorities, this is not some moral crusade or a dramatic pivot to achieve a pure oasis of a civilization. This is cold, bureaucratic level enforcement. While the internet truly never forgets, India is trying to pretend that these platforms never existed at all. Welcome to the Great Gambling Site Purge, brought to you exclusively by the Indian government. 

So… What Actually Happened? 

No, we are not here to bring you any of that clickbait nonsense. India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has demanded that internet service providers begin their online crusade of blocking all access to illegal online betting and gambling platforms—the ones that operate without any sort of authorization. In the most recent wave recorded, 242 specific names were revealed. This now makes the overall number well over 7,800. 

These targets include offshore sportsbooks, unlicensed online casinos, as well as those betting apps disguised as “skill games.” There was no need for a dramatic parliamentary showdown. The government merely dusted off their existing IT and cyber laws and realized — wait! We can block that. And this one. And the list merely goes on and on. 

Efficient? Maybe. But subtle? Oh, anything but that. 

Why India Finally Said “Enough is Enough!” 

Now, let’s clear this up. India did not simply wake up one morning and randomly decided that they would direct their unadulterated rage towards gambling. This has been a subject that has slowly been brewing for years at this point. 

If you look at it from the government’s perspective, offshore gambling sites were responsible for three unforgivable things: 

1. Making a lot of money

2. Not paying their taxes (specifically Indian taxes)

3. Being extremely difficult to regulate 

The third one sealed their fate. 

This crackdown has nothing to do with banning anyone’s fun. It is about control (are we surprised?) Control when it comes to finance, legalities, and political ones. If you cannot license it, tax it, or supervise it — then block it. Simple. 

Enter Crypto Casinos

We have made it to the part where everyone pretends not to notice (but always noticing). There may not necessarily be any bold red letters that are shouting “CRYPTO”, but let there be no mistake.

Crypto casinos are able to bypass your traditional banking oversight, which then can allow them near-instant deposits or withdrawals. Not to mention, they can shift over domains faster than regulators can type memos. Now from the regulator’s point of view, this is the perfect recipe for a nightmare. These could be anonymous wallets, cross-border operators, zero protections for users, and these marketing funnels that live on Discord and other forms of social media instead of polite, blockable websites. 

If you did not already know, India has taken a stern stance regarding anonymous crypto activity. Pair that with gambling, and suddenly… you have over 7,800 blocked domains (and still counting). 

Does Blocking Gambling Sites Actually Work?

Haha, well. Sort of, but not how you think. If someone really wants to gamble online, they will find a way. We know how the internet works by now. They could still use a VPN, join a Telegram channel, find a mirror site, or download a sideloaded app. Blocking apps will not eliminate anything. All that is going to come of this is increased friction. 

The government knows this. They are well-aware that this is not going to stop everyone. However, this does cross off a few goals for them. Now casual users are disrupted, these SEO traffic tunnels break, the operators are forced to distribute these models riskier than before, and scare off some of these payment processors. 

All they accomplished was to  lock the front door. Except the windows are still open. Less convenient, absolutely — but foolproof? Oh, of course not. 

Final Takeaways 

India is not alone. If you look out, you will see that these actions are beginning to fit into a specific global pattern. Governments around the world are all taking part in some way. They are cracking down on these sweepstakes casinos, tightening AML rulesets, reclassifying what that gray area in gambling means, and forcing platforms to get a license or leave this life behind. This is making some regions inch towards that regulation option. Others, such as India in this case, choose to enforce first. Neither approach is going to be perfect. 

Blocking 7,800 gambling sites is not going to put an end to online betting within the borders of India. Nor is it even going to slow it down. India knows this, and all they are looking to achieve is to let platforms know that they are watching. Going forward, we are to expect more blocks, smarter enforcement, and operators to adapt faster than regulators would like. 

And if you are a player reading this? Well how about that — now you have switch into hard mode. The house rules are all invisible and that customer support definitely will not be getting back to you. 

Good luck out there, player.