Bitcoin Forum

With the Indian government tightening regulations around online gaming and betting, many local platforms face stricter rules. However, offshore betting sites and crypto casinos are becoming popular among Indian players. Do you think these platforms are filling a gap, or are they adding more legal and financial risks for users?

Offshore gambling is always the escape route to bypass country restrictions especially some casino allow VPN to access their casino and register.

There’s also decentralized casino available to serve user from country like India that has strict law on gambling. Cryptocurrency makes anonymous gambling possible now from the regulators monitoring.

So yeah, it’s filling the gap now.

Both, filling a gap and adding risks. If you think about it from the side of the players, the best setup would be a locally well regulated industry with both physical and online casinos. The safest would be to play in online casinos that are registered and hosted in the same country. I understand that countries want to discourage people from playing, but creating bad rules only creates additional risks for the users and in practice does not reduce playing. If a casino does not want to pay you or tricks you in some way, your odds of being able to do something against them are much lower when they are in another jurisdiction.

I am often skeptical about these. Are their smart contracts open source? If they are not, then they are very risky to use. They could have all sorts of manipulations in them.

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/08/27/UZBTHm.png
 (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/offshore-betting-sites-cash-in-as-rmg-ban-hit-local-players-retreat/articleshow/123511791.cms)
However a regulatory void left by the Indian governments recent ban on real money gaming apps is being filled by bitcoin casinos & offshore betting sites.  afaik bookies that target Indian users & offer huge deposit bonuses include 1xBit, 1XBet & RajaBets.  1xBet?? :-\ fuck.. you know these platforms carry substantial financial & legal risks, even though they might appear to be a workaround.  also products from 1xbet are highly risky you know. Potential fraud, a lack of consumer protection & even money laundering issues are all risks that users face.  so  they present new difficulties even though they might momentarily close a gap.

They don't add to any financial risk on users, because each gamblers decided on what rate to use in gambling and how they wanted to play their bet in respect to time, which is a personal decision which they make, as for the government, they are still more lenient because  of their regulations for not work against the online gambling platforms, but only the physical casinos are being affected, maybe this could curb on the level of exposure at which the people come across gambling, while it's an open opportunity for the ones online to get more users.

I think it's filling the gap. But there's always a risk if you choose the wrong offshore online casino and sports betting site.

Anyway, I believe the government should be promoting their local online casinos so they can collect taxes. Sure, they don't want their citizens to be gambling addicts but it cannot really be stopped anymore. They will just go illegal if they keep pushing them away. There's so much money in gambling now, and they can use the tax coming from it to help those who are in need. I think that's the better choice that going for a very strict rule.

They can't eat their cake and still have it, they also know that gambling has been a source of income as they generate from it's tax on gamblers and the participating gambling platforms, which should serve as part of the reasons why this cannot be hundreds percent effective, because they are also a beneficiary in other ways as they earn from these gambling platforms under regulations from the government, we can't moderate or see the government moderate for illegal gambling advertisement, irrespective of the strategy used, everyone will later got affected by the regulations.

That is just it. Decentralized networks and the VPN access has made it easy for people residing in the restricted gambling regions to have alternative in doing their gambling things.

Perhaps the government might think being deeply regulating gambling platforms in their jurisdictions will curb a way to as well have influence on their residence gamblers but those set of restricted gamblers or those who does not find the regulatory policies convenience could as well access other gambling services that does not support those restrictions. Thus, the perspective could reduce gambling forces amongst residence than when the local platforms are unrestricted or unregulated.

I even commented on a thread yesterday: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5556975.msg65737316#msg65737316

Is gambling so popular in India that it bothers the government?

In Brazil, gambling was generating so much money that the government acted quickly to tax and collect taxes from gambling companies, but there is still a large gray area, and this is not an impediment to gambling and choosing your favorite gambling company

A business gap cannot remain void it will always be filled. Since gamblers will always seek alternative means to enjoy betting activities, the restrictions by the Indian government will make room for unregistered casinos to fill the gap created by registered casinos. If the market is there, a business will always seek for means to satisfy customers. Don't be amazed that most of these casinos in India will restructure their operations by maybe changing names and getting these offshore licences so that they can still offer betting services to Indians.


It is becoming popular among some governments to restrict gambling activities with the claim that they are fighting gambling addiction. Meanwhile, they forget that most gamblers in developing nations see gambling as a source of revenue because of poverty. The government should focus on reducing unemployment and poverty,  and addiction will decrease dramatically.

I believe it's important to understand how this recently passed law works. For example, from what I read, it said it prohibited people from using casinos or gambling sites that charged money to play. I don't know if I'm making a mistake in my interpretation of the recently passed law. But if I'm right, then we need to understand what the Indian government means by money—whether it's talking about local fiat or also including dollars and cryptocurrencies.

Because if it's not including cryptocurrencies, then people could play at crypto casinos without breaking the law. That's why it's very important for people to consult lawyers and legal experts before using casinos, to avoid problems with the Indian government. Some governments are very harsh when they catch someone breaking the law. Imagine being imprisoned for three years and still having to pay a fine. That's not a good thing, and that was the penalty the Indian government chose for violators of this new law.

Yeah, I think off shore gaming are the thing right now, as somewhat it's one of the favorite of gambling operators to be used by legal or illegal gambling websites. And if we are familiar with it, the Philippines is one example wherein off shore gaming was a big success.

However, when success comes with a big surprises. The country was grip with addiction and now there are a lot of measure being done like trying to ban it totally by the government. Hopefully it will not be the case for India, to fall for this gambling addiction because it's accessible because of off shore gaming.

Government never skips to charge what doesn't generate money into the country, no matter the scale of the business, gambling alone generates so much money in a day and so the government had taking it into a tax system to generate revenue to the government. That's how it is in every country not only in Brazil.

And speaking of tax, how can the government taxes those if they are off-shore in the first place? And from what I understand, most of them operated illegally, that's why it's not really good to have this kind of setup in any country.

So yes, this is in the grey zone, unless the government goes after those legal entities that uses off shore gaming for taxes (as what other government do), but the question is on those illegal betting shops that uses off shore gaming. That will be a big problem specially a country like India which is big.

India is great grey zone,but i think with our MR.PRESIDENT Trump USA is gonna be white zone for gambling etc...Just give a bit money for Mr.president and you can do whatever you want

That is exactly the argument they used in Brazil, to “protect” users, but obviously the government only wants its share of legalization and taxes, nothing else
No other action has been taken to protect users and betting companies, nothing

In fact, in one state in Brazil, they are close to passing a law that prohibits the use of cryptocurrencies in casinos to “protect” users, but with tracked fiat money, you can bet normally
I can imagine that India is a bit like Brazil, I see some similarities between the two countries
But I believe that Brazil is still betting more because of soccer

Of course offshore casinos are a loophole, moreover many casinos accept users from India, unlike the US and some European countries, casinos that accept cryptocurrencies are very clear loopholes instead of avoiding local casinos, and I myself am very comfortable with offshore casinos

They are doing both. They fill the gap and the users who patronized them are aware of the financial risks it entails. The regulations will make users go to Offshore gambling but for how long? After experiencing regulatory,legal and financially risks considering they the users are not even protected. In my estimation, since the bill has just been passed let give it some time and know its effectiveness.

I am Indian, and have always gambled on offshore gambling platforms, they have always been fine, iirc I only had one bad experience on this casino [1] but it was shady to begin with and me running after their bonus fucked me up.

As long as you stick to reputed platforms, you will do fine.

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[1] Be Careful Of Cryptothrills Casino (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5340386.msg57102324#msg57102324)

Edit: Oops, topic is AI written.

I didn't know about this, do you have any sources to prove you're right?
Furthermore, everyone is trying to get their own way, if a state decides that this is right they will continue to do so even if you think it is wrong.
There's been worse around the world

Gambling itself can add financial risks for users that does not want to be gambling responsibly, it is not about where you gamble. Be it offshore or in your country, you have to be a responsible gambler to avoid financial risks. About the legal risks, did your government enforce you not to use offshore online the gambling sites in your country? According to what I have seen on gambling sites, India is not restricted on most offshore gambling sites.

Maybe, I mean, from my experience, a lot of local regulated online casinos in my country lack what I'm looking for in an online casino, so yeah, it could be filling a gap for some indian gamblers. And yes, it is adding more legal and financial risk for gamblers in India.

Yes. it is true that India banned the betting apps a couple of days back but I have been saying this for a while these apps categorize themselves as gaming apps so bypassing every law regarding the gambling from government so this new bill is good thing and can give safer and right way for the people to gamble. If they want then they should register them under casino license not under gaming that restrict them from advertising and many other things but people can gamble it is not banned and remain same as before.

That's the way the market works. If they ban one thing, people create new ways to get it. And then other people find it. Ban a casino in one place, people will find a casino in another. What's the problem? None. It seems to me that instead of a total ban, they should have taken control of the casino (regulation) and collected taxes from it. Now, the money of Indian gamblers will flow to other countries (casinos).

What risks can a gambler face when playing in an online casino? Will the government pinpoint him and impose a fine? I doubt it.

Infact, I doubt if there is such as legal financial risks in gambling. If we access all through, the governments are better there to limit gambling users risks due to easy accessibilities on the gambling sites.

So, there is no way the regulatory system would foster on employing more risks to it citizens following the motion of the Indian government.

Risks in gambling comprises of players emotions and their bankrolls of which, it is every players responsibilities to decide if want to gamble healthily or unhealthy and not about the system by which the gamble site being offshore or local platforms is being provided.