India Reports 4,858 Betting Ads One Year After PROGA as Digital Enforcement Lags

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. Almost 97% appeared through digital channels. Betting accounted for 4,856 of the ads while only two involved online gaming.

The figures surface as India approaches a busy cricket schedule and festive season, when betting operators have historically increased activity around sporting events. ASCI recorded no gambling or betting advertisements on print or OTT platforms during the post-PROGA period, although two betting television commercials were identified.

Advertising Volume and Trends Since 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. The first six months accounted for 4,450 advertisements, nearly 92% of the total.

Activity slowed to 725 cases in November, 330 in December and 245 in January 2026. ASCI subsequently reported zero cases in February, one in March, one in April and two in May. Figures rose to 220 in June and 182 in July, with two cases from August 2026. ASCI’s FY2024-25 annual report found that digital media accounted for 94% of investigated advertising violations. Offshore betting and gambling violations rose from 1,311 in FY2023-24 to 3,081 in FY2024-25. The council also identified 318 influencers promoting offshore gambling advertisements on social media.

The Enforcement Challenge Ahead of Cricket Season

The Women’s Asia Cup runs from August 28 to September 13, followed by cricket competitions at the Asian Games and 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.

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

Technology and gaming lawyer Jay Sayta said: “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.”

The data, as first reported by exchange4media, shows an initial surge in advertising after PROGA followed by a sharp drop, yet digital channels and disguised promotions continue to evade controls. Offshore operators’ use of mirror domains and surrogate handles around major events adds another layer of complexity that current monitoring has not resolved.

Reporting: Casino News Daily

Generated by SCCG’s automated editorial system from published source reporting. SCCG Management holds editorial responsibility.