The banned apps were involved in money laundering through hawala, crypto, and other illegal routes. Some of the banned apps include Mahadev, Parimatch, Fairplay, 1XBET, Lotus365, Dafabet, and Betwaysatta. According to eeports, some of these platforms are currently being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
"Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) blocked a total of 581 applications under section 69A of IT Act, 2000 which includes 174 betting and gambling related applications, 87 loan lending applications and other applications including gaming applications like PUBG, GArena Free Fire etc," Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state for finance, said in a reply to Lok Sabha, as reported by The Economic Times.
Betting and gambling activities are banned in India, under various State laws, however few games of skill have been held to be constitutionally valid by the Supreme Court in various judgements.
Early of last month, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had issued blocking orders against 22 illegal betting apps & websites, including Mahadev Book and Reddyannaprestopro. The action followed investigations conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against illegal betting app syndicate and subsequent raids on Mahadev Book in Chhattisgarh, revealing the app’s unlawful operations.
Ealier in February, the central government had also blocked 138 illegal betting and gaming websites. However, some of them were still operating.
In October, The Economics Times reported that the government found 114 illegal betting and gambling apps operating in the country through domain farming.
Last week, the Minister of State in a reply to a Lok Sabha (lower house) question, told parliament that no offshore companies have so far registered after October 1st.
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