A myriad of raids across India have escalated fears surrounding the illegal gambling market following the country’s regulatory shift to ban real money gaming.
Last week, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted five raids at locations across Delhi and Jaipur in connection with a drug trafficking and money laundering network.
Although primarily focused on drugs after the Narcotics Control Board seized over 82kg of cocaine in November 2024, the most recent searches also uncovered an online betting and gaming network.
110 mule bank accounts used for handling transactions related to the betting operations were frozen, and, according to ED, Dubai-based cryptocurrency wallets were used to transfer funds.
Financial records, documents and Rs 70m (£59,939) in unaccounted cash were also seized by authorities.
Black market concerns
The exposure of the illegal gambling network throws a spotlight on concerns raised by Flutter executives as they responded to India’s decision to implement a blanket ban on real money games.
The group, which was forced to pull its Junglee offering from India, lamented the lack of consultation with industry stakeholders to “consider the significant adverse consequences” of the decision, including the possibility of it emboldening the black market.
Prior to the prohibition, the Indian gaming industry was valued at $3.7bn and was projected to hit $9.1bn by 2029, demonstrating that there is a clear appetite for gaming in the country. As such, players may now be forced into the black market due to the decision.
However, despite being saddled with a $556m impairment charge related to exiting the market, Flutter’s CEO, Peter Jackson, has hinted there may be room for a return, as he confirmed that the company is continuing to do “all the lobbying and legal challenges that you’d expect”.
“We’re going to maintain the Junglee product on a free-to-play basis, and we’ll see what happens,” said Jackson during Flutter’s Q3 earnings call.
“I would hope we might get some more sort of legal clarity around the extent to which some of these games of skill may be able to come back.”
