Breaking: Jio and Vodafone blocks offshore gambling sites

25 gambling sites on “ban list” issued by the tax department

Online gambling websites such as Dafabet, Betway, PariMatch, 22bet, FairPlay, and other betting sites based outside of India were recently made inaccessible from some JIO and Vodafone networks. Read more: offshore gambling sites blocked.

These bans are suggested to be a result of an imposition of a ban made by the Ministry of Information and Technology (MEITY) and are made possible thanks to the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Airtel and other networks reportedly still allow access to these websites. However, we can expect wider-scale bans since network propagation and other factors often delay ISP bans. As seen in previous similar cases.

The request to ban offshore gambling websites originates from the national tax department. Authorities are going to ban a total of 25 betting websites.

This ban request comes only just over one week after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) issued an advisory for news websites, OTT platforms, and TV channels to stop advertisements for betting sites.

Interestingly, the advisory already revealed that ads from some of the operators mentioned above appeared across local platforms and so-called “surrogate” news websites, suggesting authorities have been investigating these operators for a longer period of time.

FairPlay already changed website name to avoid ban

Regulated markets worldwide are using IP blocks to keep unlicensed gambling sites out of regulated markets. The method comes with an easy-accessible loophole.

Authorities are making these bans on a URL basis. Changing the URL of a website restores site access. The ISPs will have to make a new ban.

Offshore online betting site FairPlay amended their website URL only hours after the ISP ban became known. Opening their site to Indian players once again.

We can only speculate that this will be a short-term solution for some of the 25 gambling sites recently blocked. If not all.