The Secret Betting Cult: Parimatch And Offshore Betting Apps' Surrogate Ads Under ED Lens

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in its probe into multiple online betting platforms, has flagged a new trend of surrogate advertising being used to promote these applications despite regulatory restrictions. According to investigators, offshore betting app Parimatch, and others have been roping in social media influencers, cricketers and Bollywood actors to create brand visibility through indirect promotions.

Modus Operandi of Promotion and Laundering

Officials said the modus operandi involves celebrity endorsements, influencer marketing, domestic “mule” banking conduits, payment aggregator and domestic money transfer (DMT) channels, and cryptocurrency conversions, all aimed at keeping Indian users engaged and revenue flowing into the illegal betting ecosystem.

Online Gaming Bill Brings Anti-Betting Provisions

In August, Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, which includes an anti-betting provision to ban online money games due to their links to addiction, financial ruin and social distress.

ED Raids and Freezes Funds

The same month, ED froze Rs 110 crore parked in mule accounts and seized 1,200 mule credit cards during raids at 17 locations. The agency also found that Parimatch had floated Indian entities under the names Parimatch Sports and Parimatch News to run surrogate advertisement.

Front Entities Disguised as News and Fan Clubs

Officials linked to the ongoing betting app investigation revealed that offshore platforms such as Parimatch, 1xBet, heavily rely on surrogate advertising to reach Indian users, despite strict restrictions on gambling promotions. The Anti-Money Laundering agency’s probe indicates that these companies operate Indian-facing entities with neutral names such as Parimatch News or Parimatch Sports, which pose as sports news outlets, fan clubs, or merchandise brands. These fronts sign endorsement deals with cricketers, B-list actors, and social media influencers, who promote the brand as lifestyle content, sports updates, or fan communities.

“Payments to these individuals typically originate from entities in Cyprus, Dubai, and similar jurisdictions,” an official noted. The Indian-facing entities are deliberately branded to closely resemble the betting apps, ensuring that brand recall transfers seamlessly when users encounter them online, effectively funneling audiences toward the actual platforms. 

Celebrity Endorsements and Influencer Marketing

Once established, these surrogate brands turn to celebrity endorsements and influencer campaigns. Cricketers, B-list film actors, and social media personalities are roped in to promote what appears to be sports content, lifestyle collaborations or merchandise launches. The messaging is carefully crafted to avoid direct mention of gambling, using vague hooks such as “check out my collab” or “follow this sports page.” At the same time, the branding remains prominent, with logos, hashtags and visuals matching those of the betting platforms. Merchandise drops, contest announcements and prediction polls add further legitimacy while building audience engagement. Once curious users search for these names or scan the links, they are redirected to offshore betting platforms or mirror sites where the actual wagering happens.

Event Sponsorships and Digital Saturation

The surrogate model also thrives on event sponsorships and content integration. Front brands sponsor cricket tournaments, web shows, and OTT content, securing banner placements and on-screen mentions. They also run YouTube channels, Instagram pages and sports blogs that publish match previews, fan polls and highlight reels, drawing in sports enthusiasts under the guise of news or analysis. Embedded in this content are QR codes, swipe-up links and short URLs that direct users to download pages or mirror websites of the betting apps.

A key strength of this strategy is its digital saturation. By running coordinated influencer posts, regional-language campaigns, hashtag challenges and micro-influencer pushes, surrogate brands flood social media feeds and search engines. The repetition normalizes the brand name and primes users to search for it during major sporting events like the IPL or international cricket tours. Once users actively search, they are quickly funneled from benign-looking websites to the actual offshore betting platforms.

Resilient Tactics to Avoid Detection

To sustain reach and avoid regulatory takedowns, surrogate advertisers rely on resilient tactics such as rotating accounts, creating mirror landing pages, and pushing users into closed groups on Telegram or WhatsApp where more direct links are shared. They also disguise campaigns under the veneer of social good or community activity, occasionally sponsoring charity drives, sports festivals or athlete outreach programs to appear legitimate. In some cases, archived endorsements, old content, or lookalikes are used to keep celebrity associations alive while reducing fresh exposure.

Ultimately, the surrogate advertising strategy works by blurring the line between legitimate sports marketing and covert gambling promotion. It combines celebrity appeal, sports fandom, and clever branding to ensure that betting platforms remain highly visible to Indian users without ever explicitly calling themselves gambling apps. This playbook gives offshore operators a wide funnel of new users, while shielding the campaigns under layers of plausible deniability.

Officials said the modus operandi rests on two pillars: surrogate advertising on the front end and money laundering at the back end. 

The money trail follows a different cycle. User deposits are collected in large numbers of mule bank accounts opened under shell firms or individuals. These funds are layered through bogus vendor payments, e-commerce refunds or chargebacks to disguise their origin. A portion is withdrawn in cash and passed on to hawala operators, while another portion is converted into cryptocurrency like USDT via overseas wallets, effectively moving the money outside India’s formal banking system.  

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Offshore Apps Generating Thousands of Crores

According to the ED officials, this combination of surrogate advertising on the front end and elaborate laundering at the back end has allowed offshore betting apps to generate thousands of crores in revenue from Indian users, while masking both their promotional activity and their financial flows. Offshore betting companies are estimated to generate more than Rs 85,000 crore annually.

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