RSD 15 - Data in relation
VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
Traces
Gambling Ecosystem of India
KEYWORD
Mansi Yadav, Prashant Kashyap, Ravi Bhushan, Vivek Kant
#systemic design #gamblification
#governance #addiction awareness
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
ABSTRACT
India sees over 370 million people betting during the peak sporting season, crossing over 100$ billion in transactions over the 60-day tournament window (CNBC, 2025). Gambling in India has rapidly expanded as a result of high smartphone usage especially during high engagement events such as Indian Premier League (IPL). Fantasy sports platforms recognised this opportunity and capitalised by developing real money games such as Dream11 and Mobile Premier League (MPL). To deal with the adverse impact of these betting platforms, Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA), Government of India, put a comprehensive ban on all real money gaming apps. This ban displaced a huge, habituated population to offshore platforms that are unregulated and provide zero consumer protection without Indian jurisdiction.
CREATIVE PROCESS
This synthesis map presents a system level analysis of India’s gambling ecosystem using multiple visualisations depicting a historical timeline, stakeholder mapping, and a journey map of behavioural dynamics of gambling. Later, the giga map helped us identify key patterns, including the revenge effects of prohibition policies and the concept of “illusion of control” used to condition gambling habits.
IMPLICATIONS AND NEXT STEPS
The project categorized the following stages of interventions, Pre-Entry (Awareness), Interaction and Involvement (Regulation and moderation), Post-Harm (Mitigation). A broader intervention at the stage of Awareness could directly impact the individualistic worldview and values. Thus, strategic placement of Ad Campaigns during IPL Season would further capture a wider target audience. A significant aspect of the project was reframing the issue of gambling as a systemic design problem, rather a completely social, regulatory or technological one. This outlook helps in dealing with socio-technical systems such as online real money betting, that have unprecedented impacts on large populations.
References
Macey, Joseph. (2024). A conceptual framework for understanding and identifying gamblified experiences. Computers in Human Behavior, 155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.108087
Sinyong Choi. (2023). Examining the Use of Offshore Online Gambling Sites in the United States via Routine Activities Theory: A SEM Analysis. National Library of Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37150774/
Digital India Foundation. (2025, March). Illegal Gambling and Betting Market in India: The scale and Enablers. https://digitalindiafoundation.org/illegal-gambling-and-betting-market-in-india-the-scale-and-enablers/