The State of Online Gambling in India

All over the world, online gambling is becoming increasingly popular. From sports betting to casino gaming, more and more people are discovering the accessibility and enjoyment of gambling online. However, one element which is slightly holding back the ever-growing industry is the archaic laws turned to when people question the activity’s legality in their nation. Many nations have been slow when aiming to regulate the industry in their lands, or neglect to do so entirely.

One such country is that of India: the vast Asian nation’s gambling laws adhere to those enacted back in 1867, for the most part. Despite the old laws appearing to make online gambling illegal, gambling occurs throughout India, leaving it in somewhat of a state of limbo, legally speaking. Here’s what you need to know.

India’s state of gambling: legally speaking

As explained by ICLG, despite the Indian Constitution granting each Indian state, of which there are 29, the right to enact their own gambling legislation in 1950, the Public Gambling Act 1867 was already in place to prohibit the activity. After the Constitution came into force, many states simply adopted the Public Gambling Act as their own while others modelled very similar laws on the 1867 statute. The state of Karnataka took a slightly different approach, seeing the maintenance of public order as a vehicle to rule as gambling law under the Karnataka Police Act 1963.

With the exceptions of Telangana, Nagaland, and Sikkim - which have amended their laws to apply to online gambling - India still abides by the laws established before the creation of the internet, with the statutes focussing on gambling that takes place in a designated venue. So, even with a few states making amendments to apply to the online environment specifically, the laws that are mostly based on legislation from the 1800s are also deemed to cover internet gambling. Most of these laws make a distinction between games of skill and games of chance, which has allowed operators to effectively ‘get away with’ offering daily fantasy sports.

India’s state of gambling: realistically speaking

Many adults within India’s 1.3 billion population enjoy gambling and do partake in the activity. Some do so by visiting the few slightly offshore casinos of Goa while others simply go online to find the games and markets that they wish to play. Cricket betting, cricket daily fantasy sports, and casino gaming are all very popular across the nation despite the law supposedly prohibiting gambling of all sorts. One of the contributing factors to this form of free-for-all is the fact that very little is done to stop online operators. Under the Information Technology Act 2000, the Indian government has the power to block foreign websites from offering their services to the citizens of the country, and yet many gambling sites do so in plain sight.

If someone in India wants to partake in some sports betting or casino gaming, they have plenty of options so long as they can connect to the internet. The online slot and casino rankings statistics analyser SlotCatalog finds that Royal Panda is currently India’s favourite online casino. The website has 491 games from 23 different game providers on offer in India and is part of a group of at least 15 online casinos currently operating in the Indian market. As you can see, there are plenty of online gambling options ready to appease anyone in India who wishes to partake in gambling.

The future of gambling in India

Back in 2010, there was a notable attempt to bring online regulation to gambling in India with three proposed online gambling licences, but nothing came from these attempts. In December 2018, however, Mondaq reported that change might be on the way. Goa’s offshore casinos, situated in the River Mandovi, are said to intend to close down by 2020 to move and create a land-based entertainment area. To achieve this, it has been proposed that their licences will be altered and renewed provided that they adhere to a potential new casino policy and set-up on the mainland within a year of the policy coming into power. The casino policy itself is said to hopefully establish the regulatory framework required to allow the state to govern the gaming industry.

As it stands, online gambling is in a legal grey area for operators and providers of sports betting and casino gaming. Regardless of this, plenty of websites offer their gambling services to the people of India, allowing citizens to indulge in the activity if they so choose.