Brazil's betting ban: what India's 2025 ban shows about where players and money go

On 25 September Brazil banned the $6.6 billion licensed market it had opened 21 months earlier. India did the same to real-money gaming in August 2025. We tracked the same internet users through India's ban, using Brazil as the control, then followed Brazil's first week.

The ban shut the legal channel and left the demand intact. In India, branded search fell by a third while actual visits to offshore sites held level. In Brazil, licensed-site visits were 74% below normal within a week, and 57% of bettors had already visited an unlicensed site before the ban.

What's inside

• India's ban, measured on the same users before and after, with Brazil as the control

• Brazil's first week: licensed and unlicensed traffic, offshore brands and mirror sites

• Where traffic goes after a ban: from Google to pop-up networks and mirrors

• The bill: licences, taxes and skilled jobs in Brazil vs India

• Seven expectations for Brazilian market and scenarios for Congress and the Supreme Court

Who should read this

• Licensed operators and investors weighing their next move while the ban faces Congress and the courts

• Affiliates and media planning budgets around a market in legal limbo

• Regulators and policy analysts weighing what a ban does in practice