The Indian government has blocked 581 applications, including 174 betting and gambling app, Pankaj Chaudhury, the minister of state for finance, told the parliament on Monday. Some prominent platforms operating illegally include Parimatch, Fairplay, 1XBET, Lotus365, Dafabet, and Betwaysatta.
The centre has blocked a total of 581 applications (App) so far out of which there are 174 betting and gambling applications (apps) and 87 loan lending applications. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told parliament.
“Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) blocked a total of 581 applications under section 69A of IT Act, 2000 which includes 174 betting and gambling related applications, 87 loan lending applications and other applications including gaming applications like PUBG, GArena Free Fire etc,” Chaudhary told in a reply to Lok Sabha.
The illegal betting and gambling app has been in the spotlight recently with MeitY last month issuing a blocking order against some 22 ‘illegal’ betting apps and websites, including Mahadev Apps.
The order was issued upon a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which was investigating an alleged money laundering syndicate.
The government in February had blocked 138 such illegal betting and gaming websites, however some of them were still operating.
In July the Centre had amended and notified the IGST Act which mandates that all offshore gaming companies need to be registered in India. It also gives the central government power to block websites which are not registered and are violating laws.
In October, The Economic Times had reported that the government found as many as 114 illegal betting and gambling platforms operating in India through domain farming.
These platforms were collecting UPI payments through proxy bank accounts and the amount accumulated in proxy accounts is being remitted through hawala, crypto and other illegal routes.
Later the matter was flagged once again in a presentation to the revenue department last week by domestic online gaming companies.
They had also shared the modus operandi of how several offshore betting and gambling platforms were managing to illegally operate in India.
Some prominent platforms operating illegally are Parimatch, Fairplay, 1XBET, Lotus365, Dafabet, and Betwaysatta. Many of these are on the banned list. Some of the sites are already being probed by the ED.
Last week, in a reply to a Lok Sabha question, the minister of state had told parliament that no offshore companies have so far registered after October 1.