Online gambling outruns crackdown

Law enforcers are struggling to curb a rapidly evolving online gambling industry, as gamblers repeatedly resurrect banned websites and apps under new identities, exploiting loopholes in Bangladesh’s digital enforcement system.

Police source told The Daily Observer that about 586 online gambling websites are currently active in the country, with roughly 3,864 mobile financial service accounts being used for gambling-related transactions. Sources said that between 3 billion and 5 billion taka ($25 million to $42 million) a day flows through these channels.

Much of the money is allegedly moved overseas through cryptocurrency and informal remittance networks known as hundi, according to investigators.

The scale of the operation has exposed a central problem for authorities: Blocking individual websites has proved relatively easy. Dismantling the financial and human networks behind them has been far more difficult.


The BTRC has blocked at least 5,109 gambling websites and 450 apps since October 2021, according to officials cited in the report. Yet the sites continue to reappear.

Investigators say the operators do not depend on a single website. Instead, they maintain a broader payment and communications network.

A gambler may register with a mobile phone number and deposit money through a mobile financial service or bank account. If the gambler wins, the same network can be used to return the money.

That means shutting down a website does not necessarily eliminate the underlying operation. Operators can simply move users to another platform while retaining the same payment infrastructure.

Police say some agents collect gambling proceeds through services such as bKash, Rocket and Nagad, sometimes using accounts or agent numbers rented for the purpose.

In one case cited by investigators, a man in Kurigram allegedly used his legitimate mobile financial service agency business to facilitate transactions for 10 to 11 online gambling websites. Authorities said he received commissions for processing the payments.

The investigation has also highlighted the international dimension of the business.

According to  Criminal Investigation Department(CID), a group arrested in May had allegedly operated several domestic and international gambling platforms whose control was linked to a network in Russia.

Investigators said the group had moved about 2.5 billion taka abroad. They said they had identified international connections and cryptocurrency wallets and were working with Bangladesh’s financial intelligence authorities and international law-enforcement agencies to trace and recover the money.