India Betting Ads Remain Digital Enforcement Challenge

India’s online betting advertising landscape remains difficult to police one year after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (PROGA) came into force. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) reported 4,858 gambling and betting advertisements during the period, with almost 97% appearing through digital channels.

Betting accounted for 4,856 of those advertisements, while only two involved online gaming.

The figures arrive as India approaches a busy cricket schedule and festive season, when betting operators have historically sought opportunities around sporting events.

Advertising Peaked After PROGA

ASCI recorded 1,146 advertisements in August 2025, 951 in September and 1,053 in October. The three-month total reached 3,150 cases, around 65% of all advertisements reported during the year.

Activity then slowed, with 725 cases in November, 330 in December and 245 in January 2026. The first six months accounted for 4,450 advertisements, nearly 92% of the total.

ASCI subsequently reported zero cases in February, one in March, one in April and two in May. Activity returned in June and July, producing 220 and 182 advertisements respectively. The supplied data also included two cases from August 2026.

Digital Media Remains The Main Concern

ASCI’s FY2024-25 annual report found that digital media accounted for 94% of investigated advertising violations, while traditional media recorded around 98% compliance.

Offshore betting and gambling violations rose from 1,311 in FY2023-24 to 3,081 in FY2024-25. ASCI also identified 318 influencers promoting offshore gambling advertisements on social media and found disguised promotions on community and fan pages.

The council reported no gambling or betting advertisements on print or OTT platforms during the post-PROGA period, although it identified two betting television commercials.

Cricket Season Brings Another Test

The Women’s Asia Cup runs from August 28 to September 13, followed by cricket competitions at the Asian Games. India also has bilateral series against the West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Australia.

Namita Viswanath, Partner at CMS INDUSLAW, said operators increasingly rely on harder-to-monitor digital channels.

“During IPL and major tournaments, sites ramp up India-facing offers around cashbacks, bonus deposits, special odds and cricket-linked promotions. Their marketing playbook is increasingly skewed towards channels that are harder to police: Telegram groups that push tips, live odds and payment instructions at scale; and Instagram and other social feeds that appear to be generic sports update pages but have users funnelled to betting apps,” said Namita Viswanath, Partner at CMS INDUSLAW.

“This blurs the line between User Generated Content (UGC) and paid promotion and makes enforcement more difficult,” Viswanath said.

Malak Bhatt said offshore operators use mirror domains and surrogate sports handles around major events and festivals.

Technology and gaming lawyer Jay Sayta said monitoring thousands of platforms remains difficult.

“It is important that the government acknowledges the impossibility of banning all online betting platforms, and continuously monitoring thousands of such websites/apps, and that enforcement of PROGA has been a failure,” Sayta said.

Source:

“One year of PROGA: ASCI flags 4,858 betting ads ahead of cricket calendar, festive season”, exchange4media.com, August 26, 2026