The prohibition of India on online gambling has closed an industry of billion dollars for hundreds of millions of people and torpedoed the sponsorship of the National Cricket team.
But players say that those who are determined to bet will find a way to gain access to overseas and non -regulated websites, while fans of Fantasy Sport apps can still play, although for prizes and no cash.
Adarsh Sharma, an advertising professional who regularly played fantasy sport games, said that offshore sites “will see a sudden tree” while Indian gamblers are looking for a solution.
“A habit once formed cannot be broken easily,” he said. “It is an addiction and people will find ways to gamble.”
The Indian Parliament assumed last month that a major law that banned online gambling after government figures demonstrated that companies had stripped $ 2.3 billion of 450 million people annually.
Civil servants said that the rapid spread of the platforms caused widespread financial need, addiction and suicide, while they were also linked to fraud, money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The law was challenged in the court by a top online card game platform.
The prohibition affects websites and apps for card games and fantasy sports – including the wildly popular fantasy cricket of India – with perpetrators who are now confronted with five years in prison.
The online gamblers of India will have to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to mislead overseas websites by thinking that they are not in the country, and also use Proxy credit cards for placing a bet.
The whole process may seem too cumbersome for an average internet user, but gamblers know how to avoid the rules.
“We have done this before and will do it again,” a fan told AFP and asked not to be mentioned. “We will go back to our old ways to make money.”
‘Love for cricket’
Minister of Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the law still separates legal eSports “from gambling, gambling and fantasy games that exploit users with false promises of profit”.
Dream11 – that it is to be the world’s biggest fantasy sport platform, with 260 million users – has posted notifications that “cash games and competitions have been stopped”.
It now offers prices such as cars, telephones and refrigerators.
Dream11 also withdrew from a $ 43 million deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), with his logo no longer splashing on the sweaters of the Indian players.
Jamshed Noor, a butcher in the capital Delhi, said that his top win had been inr600 (about $ 7), a daily wage for a worker.
“We play it out of love for cricket,” said Noor. “Money was definitely an attraction, but I still play off the table despite the fact that money is now.”
The law will also shake up the wider sports industry, including the Cricket competition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“Fantasy platforms are the most aggressive advertisers in IPL and World Cricket,” said Karan Taurani of Elara Capital, adding that they would probably explore the overseas market.
Santosh N, Van D and P Advisory, estimated that fantasy sports and crypto platforms were good for a maximum of 40% of the advertisement -broadcasters that have been earned this year.
“The Fantasy boys will clearly reduce their advertisements because their business model is at stake -or actually destroyed because of the prohibition,” Santosh told AFP.
That will influence the income of the broadcasters, which means that there is less cash for the competition.
“If it is time for the BCCI to extend the media rights in 2027, it could very well see a lower renewal premium, because broadcasters cannot afford to pay so much more,” he said.
