In a recent wave of bans, India has cut off 138 betting sites and apps citing misuse of citizen data.
The Indian government continues its strike against Chinese applications and sites with a fresh wave of new bans.
In an order issued on February 5, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to ban and block 232 apps that either originate or have links to China. Of those, 138 apps are for offshore betting, including 1xBet, Betway, Parimatch, and Lotus 365 —popular sites for esports betting around the globe.
Banning betting sponsors or sites is not something new when it comes to esports. Incidents of teams fixing matches, toxicity, death threats, underage gambling, and promoting potential addictions have all been reported and problematic in the past.
However, in this case, the Indian government cites misuse of citizen data and national security threats. One year ago, India banned Tencent’s Xriver, Garena’s Free Fire, NetEase’s Onmyoji Arena, and Astracraft. The series of app blockings in India began in late June 2020 when the world’s second largest internet market banned TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser, Tencent’s WeChat, and other apps with links to China.
Organizations such as Tundra (Dota 2 The International Champions), Team Secret, Ninjas in Pyjamas, BLAST, and many others have had or currently have contracts with some of these sites as sponsors. But this shouldn't pose a problem for those that are not based out of India.
