India Weighs New Payment Rules to Trace Illegal Gaming Funds

India is considering changes to payment-record requirements as authorities look for more effective ways to identify money moving through illegal online gaming and betting networks.

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has proposed recording the website that directs a user to make a payment. It also wants authorities to receive information about every bank account associated with a website’s goods and services tax registration.

The recommendations follow a 14-month investigation into illegal gaming and betting activity. During one financial year, investigators identified INR 700 billion ($7.4 billion) in transactions associated with the networks examined.

That amount represents the value of transactions identified during the investigation. Authorities have not described it as a final figure for gambling operator revenue, tax evasion or losses suffered by the government. Work to determine the amount of lost government revenue continues.

Website Data Could Add Another Link to Payment Records

Under the current payment process, banks and payment gateways record the merchant that receives the funds. Investigators face an additional challenge when an illegal betting website directs customers to a proxy merchant company instead of receiving the payment directly.

The DGGI wants payment data to show which website initiated or directed a transaction. That record could give investigators an additional connection between the website and the merchant that received the funds.

The proposal covering GST registrations would add another source of financial information. By requiring disclosure of all bank accounts linked to a website’s GST registration, authorities could identify accounts used to receive or transfer funds associated with illegal gaming activity.

Officials still need to decide how the proposed system would work. Gaming platforms, payment gateways, aggregators and banks are among the parties that could potentially have responsibilities for gathering or maintaining the additional data.

Authorities must also establish a method for verifying which website actually originated the payment.

“Authorities have yet to determine which entities would collect and maintain the additional information”

The recommendations remain under consultation, so none of the new requirements have been finalised. Discussions will cover how businesses collect and store the payment information and how authorities can access it.

The process could also lead to additional due-diligence requirements for banks and payment businesses.

DGGI’s investigation looked beyond transaction values. It also examined concerns that illegal online gaming and betting networks could play a role in money laundering and other illicit financial activity.

New Gaming Law Changes India’s Regulatory Setting

The payment proposals arrive after India introduced wider restrictions covering online money games.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 prohibits online money games and prevents banks and payment systems from processing transactions connected to them. Rules supporting the legislation took effect on May 1, 2026.

Under the law, the prohibition applies without separating online money games according to whether they involve skill or chance.

The proposed DGGI payment requirements would give investigators more detailed information when examining transactions that could be connected to prohibited activity. Payment records could identify the website behind a transaction while GST-linked banking information could help authorities follow funds across related accounts.

India’s new legal framework has also affected disputes that began before the ban entered into force.

Google Real-Money Gaming Case Comes to an End

The Competition Commission of India recently closed an antitrust case involving Google and WinZO Games after concluding that changes to the country’s online gaming laws had altered the circumstances behind the complaint.

WinZO filed its case in 2022. The real-money gaming company alleged that Google abused its dominant position through policies governing the Play Store and Google Ads.

Part of the complaint concerned a Google pilot that allowed daily fantasy sports and rummy apps onto the Play Store while other real-money gaming products remained excluded.

The Competition Commission ordered a detailed investigation in November 2024 after finding a prima facie basis to examine whether Google may have breached competition rules.

Google later proposed allowing permissible skill-based real-money gaming products and related advertising, subject to certification. That proposal became less relevant after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act and its supporting rules prohibited online money games, related advertising and payment facilitation.

Google had already ended its real-money gaming pilot and stopped accepting related advertisements in January 2026.

During an August 25 hearing, WinZO asked to withdraw its complaint. The Competition Commission said the withdrawal request alone did not require it to close the proceedings. It independently determined that continuing the case would no longer serve a useful purpose because regulators could no longer grant the relief originally sought.

The CCI said it could examine Google’s conduct again if the legislation is stayed, overturned or repealed and the alleged practices return.

The DGGI payment-data proposals now remain subject to consultation. Authorities still need to establish who would manage the additional records and how the originating websites behind transactions would be verified before any new requirements can take effect.

Source:

India Proposes New Rules To Trace Gambling Funds, LCB.org, September 11, 2026.