MeitY lifts Section 69A block on Gamban, the anti-gambling app, after Delhi HC push

2 November 2026 · Yono Games News Desk

A rare reversal has come out of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). On 2 November 2026 the ministry told Gamban, a UK-based app that blocks gambling websites and apps for people recovering from gambling addiction, that its block in India was being lifted. The decision ends a restriction that had kept the service out of reach in India for 3 years and 8 months.

Gamban’s website and its app listings on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store had been blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act since 7 February 2023. According to MediaNama, MeitY sent its decision by email on 2 November. That account comes from advocate Jay Sayta, who represented Gamban before the Delhi High Court and at the government’s inter-ministerial hearing.

How a three-year block was finally reversed

Gamban says it does not offer any gambling itself. Its petition argued that the app had been caught up by mistake when MeitY issued blocking orders against a batch of gambling apps in February 2023. The company filed a writ petition on 9 July 2026. On 30 September 2026, Justice Amit Mahajan of the Delhi High Court directed MeitY to decide on Gamban’s representation within four weeks, under the 2009 Blocking Rules, and to give the company a hearing.

The court refused to give the ministry more time. It said the decision was MeitY’s to take, whether or not the nodal agency answered. In court, MeitY’s counsel had named the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) as the nodal agency behind the blocking order.

The hearing timeline

• 13 October: MeitY told Gamban that an inter-ministerial committee would meet the next day and invited written and oral submissions.
• 14 October: The committee held the hearing by online conference. Sayta described it as “cordial”.
• 28 October: At a second meeting, the committee recommended unblocking the website and directing the app stores to restore the app.
• 2 November: MeitY’s Section 69A cell emailed the decision to Gamban.

What the government wanted to know

Sayta told MediaNama that the committee raised two main concerns. The first was whether the app collects financial or other sensitive user data. The second was whether uninstalling it leads to a user seeing more gambling advertisements. Gamban’s answer was that the app reads only the address bar, to match a URL against its list of gambling domains. It said it collects no other data and shares nothing with third parties, and it submitted an ISO certificate on privacy.

Representatives of I4C also attended the hearing. Beyond that, the committee’s discussions were not disclosed, because Rule 16 of the Blocking Rules requires strict confidentiality around blocking requests and the action taken on them.

Back on Android, still waiting on iPhone

By 2 November Gamban’s website was loading again on the Airtel and Jio networks, MediaNama reported. Gamban said it would send the ministry’s decision to Google and Apple and ask both to act. Within hours the app was available again on the Google Play Store. G2G News also reported that the website was accessible across several internet service providers and that the app was back on Google Play. At the time of MediaNama’s report, the app was still unavailable on Apple’s App Store.

There is a gap in the rules here. Under Rule 13(2), an intermediary must acknowledge a blocking direction within two hours. No deadline is set for acting on an unblocking direction. “It is probably a matter of time before they restore access,” Sayta said.

Why this decision stands out

Section 69A orders almost never get reversed. In August 2022, MediaNama reported, on the basis of an RTI reply, that MeitY’s Review Committee had not revoked a single Section 69A blocking order since 2009. Sayta called the Gamban outcome one of the few cases where a High Court direction to consider an affected party’s representation actually led to an unblocking. Gamban thanked the Government of India in a post on X and said it looked forward to working with the government against illicit gambling and addiction.

The decision comes as enforcement against real-money gaming continues under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. For Yono Games readers, the Gamban case is a useful reminder: the same blocking powers used against betting platforms can catch tools built to keep people away from them, and the process for getting such a block lifted can take years.

What this means for Yono Games players

• Help with self-control is easier to get. If you want to stop gambling, Gamban can be downloaded again from Google Play in India. Get it from the store, not from a mirror site.
• Keep Google Play Protect switched on. It scans apps you sideload as well as store apps, which matters if you install APK files from outside the Play Store.
• Never share an OTP or your UPI PIN with anyone, including people who say they work for a game, a bank or a support desk.
• Check your state’s laws before you play any game that involves money. Remember that online money games are prohibited under the 2025 Act.
• Gaming is for adults only (18+). If play stops being fun, take a break and use blocking tools.

More player news on Yono Games: bookmark this MeitY Unblocks Gamban Anti-Gambling App in India story and see the latest Yono Games news.

Sources

• MeitY reverses Section 69A blocking order, unblocks Gamban after Inter-ministerial hearing — MediaNama, 2026-11-02
• MeitY Moves to Unblock Gamban Following Legal Challenge and Regulatory Scrutiny — G2G News, 2026-11-02
• Delhi HC directs MeitY to decide on Gamban's Section 69A blocking order within 4 weeks — MediaNama, 2026-09-30