ED Summons Suresh Raina in Probe Into Illegal Betting Platforms

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned former Team India cricketer Suresh Raina to its Delhi office on Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal online betting platforms, officials told HT late Tuesday.

While details of the questioning remain unclear, the ED is pursuing multiple leads across cities in a wide-ranging probe into betting apps accused of duping users and laundering money. On Monday, actor Rana Daggubati appeared before the ED in Hyderabad in a related case. The agency had earlier summoned actors Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati, and Lakshmi Manchu in July.

As part of the investigation, officials from Google and Meta were called last month to provide information on betting apps that allegedly use surrogate advertising. The ED has also questioned media houses suspected of receiving ad money from these platforms.

According to the agency, banned betting platforms have continued operations under new names, promoted by celebrities and influencers. An estimated 22 crore Indians use betting apps, with 11 crore being regular users. In the first three months of 2025 alone, over 1.6 billion visits were recorded to such platforms, with the illegal betting market in India suspected to be worth around $100 million.

Officials estimate that top betting apps evade about ₹27,000 crore in taxes annually.

Separately, on Tuesday, ED teams searched 15 locations in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Madurai, and Surat in connection with a racket linked to the betting app Parimatch. The case, initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a 2024 complaint by Mumbai Cyber Police, revealed that more than ₹2,000 crore was collected in mule accounts, layered through payment aggregators and money transfer agents, and laundered via crypto wallets, small ATM withdrawals in Tamil Nadu, and low-value UPI transfers.