The Online Gaming Act seems to be doing little to the offshore betting companies, who continue to aggressively target Indian users via surrogate advertising, celebrity endorsements and covert payment channels.
Last month, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) froze Rs 110 crore parked in mule bank accounts linked to Parimatch, a Cyprus-based betting platform accused of duping investors with high-return promises and routing funds through hawala, cryptocurrency, and unlicensed payment intermediaries. The agency also seized 1,200 credit cards during raids on the company’s Indian operations across Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, Surat, Madurai, Kanpur and Hyderabad.
Surrogate advertising at play
According to the ED, Parimatch and similar platforms operate a sophisticated shadow network: user deposits are routed via mule accounts disguised as e-commerce refunds, vendor payments or chargebacks, while advertising arms such as “Parimatch Sports” and “Parimatch News” receive foreign inward remittances to run high-profile campaigns. These include sports sponsorships and endorsements from Bollywood and cricket stars.
Industry insiders say such tactics have fuelled the exponential growth of illegal offshore betting in India. A report by Think Change Forum, 2023 sows that Indian users as putting in as much as Rs 8,20,000 crore worth annual deposits in offshore sports betting market. It also adds that this has a Y-o-Y growth rate of 20%.
Celebrities add sheen
Authorities have cracked down on some apps, including Mahadev and now Parimatch, but enforcement is patchy against foreign firms that constantly switch domains and banking partners. Some of the recent celebrities involved in betting app probe for 1xBet former cricketer Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh, Urvashi Rautela, Mimi Chakraborty and Ankush Hazra.
Investigators found that even payment firms rejected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for aggregator licences were still servicing Parimatch by posing as technology providers, ET reported. By giving agents access to their APIs, these firms enabled the creation of mule accounts under the guise of e-commerce or payment solution businesses. User deposits collected via UPI were then “cleaned” on paper, shown as refunds, vendor settlements, or chargebacks, before being rerouted into Parimatch’s ecosystem, the agency said.
The probe also uncovered the role of ad agencies in pushing endorsements while money travelled across wallets, mule accounts, crypto, and hawala channels.