A brief history
- Gambling is a state subject, and only states in India are entitled to formulate laws for gambling activities within their respective states, Goa and Sikkim are the only exceptions which have allowed gambling and betting in their state, subject to regulation of their respective state Governments. Some states like Goa have legalised casinos.
- The gambling industry in India is regulated on a local level, in every state. There are two exceptions to this rule – traditional lottery and horse racing that are legal in all states. Only three states provide licenses to brick-and-mortar casino venues, while others made such businesses illegal.
Gambling in its various forms, has a long and complex history in Indian culture, dating back thousands of years. Many early Indian written documents reference gambling in various forms, including board games, card games, dice games, and betting on animal contests. Indian gamblers through the centuries have enjoyed a variety of options to reap the entertainment value that gambling can provide to them.
Modern gambling in India has evolved to be a blend of Indian traditions and European influences. The most popular games on today’s Indian gambling landscape include such traditional Indian games as Teen Patti and Andar Bahar balanced against such foreign imports as playing baccarat and betting on cricket. In addition to impacting the selection of games available to players, European influences have also affected the legality of betting in India.
By the way, best suited for india is Rupee Casinos. India is rethinking and relaxing the laws on gambling. The Indians are very fond of gambling, which is reflected in the fact that there are some illegal gambling halls there. However, gambling is now being legalized step by step. We think it’s a good thing.
Geographical differences
At the national level, India’s gambling laws have historically focused their restrictions on bookmakers and gambling houses and placed little to no emphasis on the right to gamble for individual players. That being said, the issue of whether to allow gambling or not has been delegated from the national legal arena to be the responsibility of each individual state. While over half of India’s employment continues to be in the agriculture sector, several Indian states have expanded their options for economic growth and given their residents more employment opportunities by legalizing gambling.
The states leading this gambling charge by explicitly legalizing it are Goa and Daman in the southwest and Sikkim in the northeast. These three territories are dwarfed by their neighboring states in terms of both land area and population. In fact, these three states are occupied by fewer than three million residents combined. And yet their relatively small populations have allowed these states to be ahead of the curve as India moves towards more widespread legalized gambling.
In-person vs. Online Casinos
The states that have legalized gambling have done so with a focus on in-person gambling done at casinos. They are targeting the growth potential of tourism in their states for its economic benefits and using casinos as a tool to draw more tourists and bring about that growth. The good news for the hundreds of millions of Indians who reside outside of these tiny states is that you are likely still able to gamble online wherever you are, through the miracle of online casinos.
That’s because the online casinos you can access throughout India are not actually based in India, and so are not clearly subject to any gambling restrictions imposed by the Indian government. India’s current gambling/betting laws are lagging behind the online gambling movement and do not address online gambling among their enumerated restrictions, so the legality of online gambling has essentially gone unaddressed at the national level. Several states, including Delhi and Maharashtra, do have prohibitions on online gambling, so please consult your local regulations to ensure legality before engaging in any online gambling activities.
Online casino options
Since the legal atmosphere around online gambling in India is so murky, many of the most popular gaming sites operate from outside the country and provide access to their platforms to Indian customers who likely don’t have a locally-provided option for the same services. Several examples of popular providers who cater to Indian gamblers in this legal way are Bet365, Betway, and LeoVegas.
As noted above, all three of these providers maintain their operations outside of India in order not to run afoul of Indian authorities tasked with determining whether the online gambling service offered by Bet365, Betway, and LeoVegas is legal in India. Bet365 does this by operating out of England, while Betway and LeoVegas both maintain their headquarters in Malta. All three of these popular sites have been in business for years, providing safe and legal gambling options to Indian players, although LeoVegas stands out above the others for their generous first-deposit bonus.
10 free spins!
Recurring bonuses
Great trial games system
Fast withdrawal times
30 free spins!
Best mobile casino
Exclusive slot machines
Trustable, safe and easy to use casino
Different treatment for different types of games
Is Gambling Allowed In India Rupees
At the heart of any debate about the legality of gambling is the question of chance versus skill. For many games, this question does not have a simple answer of one or the other. Instead, the balance between chance and skill exists on a spectrum and each game being considered will fall somewhere on that spectrum. Each game has elements of chance and elements of skill in different amounts, so they naturally receive different treatments by the authorities in India who determine restrictions on those games. Games considered to be more chance than skill may be targeted for prohibition by those opposed to legal online gambling.
Games of chance
In the context of online gambling, slots are at the far chance end of the chance-skill spectrum. A player is at the mercy of the spin in any slots game and the outcome will be the same if you make the spin or if your cat walks on your keyboard and makes the spin for you. As the legal landscape of online gambling in India evolves, slots will be in a unique category for their high degree of chance compared to other games. Slots exist and is legal on all three of the platforms mentioned above (Bet365, Betway, and LeoVegas). By the way, if this is your preferred type of game, then head over to LeoVegas, where the slots options far outnumber those offered at the Bet365 or Betway.
Games of skill
Distinct from the high-chance gambling that is slots, gambling on sports like cricket sits closer to the skill end of the chance-skill spectrum. Consider a comparison between the two where the slots player is comparable to the player betting on a cricket match and the slots game itself is comparable to the teams playing that cricket match. The outcome of a slots spin is entirely random, but the outcome of the cricket match is based on the skills (and possibly a little luck) of the athletes involved. That difference between games of chance and games of skill is a factor that will play a prominent role in the evolution of online gambling in India in the years to come.
Conclusion
Gambling has been a confusing topic in India as there are no clear rules and regulations around it. Things get further confusing as each state in India has different rules and regulations regarding gambling. In this article, I will share my thoughts on legal gambling in India, state laws on gambling, lottery, horse race, and cricket gambling.
Is Gambling Legal in India?
Gambling in India is a grey area as there are no clear rules defined. Some games are legal while other games that are similar in nature are banned.
Betting on Horse racing and Rummy is legal as the authorities consider it as games of skill while betting on sports games like Cricket and card games like poker are not considered in the same light and hence declared illegal.
Card games also stand in the grey area in terms of its legality in India. Card games such as Texas hold em and Teen Patti are banned while surprisingly Rummy is deemed legal.
State Gambling laws in India
Now you must be wondering when the Indian central government has made a rule about gambling then why do different states have different laws.
The answer lies in the seventh schedule of the constitution of India where the central government gives the right to the state government to make amends to the policies related to gambling and betting. According to this seventh schedule Entry 34 List 2, the states have the authority to make gambling legal if they want.
Taking this law into consideration many states have made changes to the gambling law. India has 29 states out of which 13 states have allowed lottery while two states – Goa and Sikkim have legalized many other forms of gambling like casinos, online gambling, etc.
Gambling Laws in Goa
Goa is one of the states well known for its top of line casinos and people from all over India come to play and enjoy gambling. This was possible due to two amendments made by govt of Goa. The first amendment – 26 13A and second amendment – 27 inserted by Amendment Act 13 of 1996.
This law allows the Government of Goa to permit Five-star hotels to operate electronic amusement /slot machines and table games like roulette, poker, etc.
The Govt also allows casino/gambling operation on offshore vessels provided they follow all the legal and safety protocols
Gambling Laws in Sikkim
Sikkim is one of the Indian states at the forefront of gambling in India. They have made 2 amendments to the law, The Sikkim Casino Games 2002 and The Sikkim Regulation of Gambling 2005 which gives the government the authority to grant the license to individual or business for the casino operation.
It also gives them the authority to allow gambling on certain days and make some gambling house legal as per the discretion of the government.
This is the reason Sikkim has the most numbers of lotteries in India. They had also started Playwin super lotto and Jaldi 5 lotto number lottery which are very popular games in India.
Recently the Sikkim government legalised internet gambling. They have started taking applications to license online gambling with servers located in the state. This is one of the reasons global online casino operators like Betway and LeoVegas have taken interest in the highly lucrative Indian market.
Is Lottery legal in India?
In earlier times, there were no definitive laws around gambling or lottery until 1998. The government of India enacted The central Lotteries (Regulation) Act – 1998 that allowed the authorities to legalise lotteries with the condition of a maximum of one draw per week.
Today every state in India has a lottery terminal with some organizing a draw every 15 minutes. The reason states are not following the weekly draw stated in the 1998 act is because of the right given by the constitution of India to create its own laws for gambling.
Cricket Betting in India
When it comes to cricket betting, there are no specific laws banning or favouring betting on sports like cricket. Unlike horse racing, cricket betting is not considered a game of skill and hence it falls in an undefined area. However, after the 2013 match-fixing scandal Supreme court appointed Lodha commission to analyse the feasibility of legalising cricket betting in India.
In June 2018, the law commission in its submission mentioned legalising cricket betting under stringent control which in turn will curb the money laundering cases. The commission also further stated that as per the Articles 249 and 252 of the constitution, the government has the authority to draft laws to regulate gambling.
Online Cricket Betting in India
No rule or law states online cricket betting is illegal. Also, international online betting sites have their servers outside India, hence it anyways does not come under the purview of Indian laws. Hence it is perfectly legal to participate in online cricket betting.
Betting of Horse Racing in India
One of the Irony and surprises in Indian laws is betting on horse racing. Although horse racing has a high chance of fixing to gain an unfair advantage in betting, it has been deemed legal by the government of India. Horse racing has been considered as games of skill and hence the betting on it has been allowed. There have been multiple cases filed in court challenging the legality of horse race betting but none of them had any impact on it.
The primary authority of horse racing is the Turf Authority of India. Some racecourses however are autonomous and have their own governing bodies and criteria for membership. Following are the list of racecourses in India –
Is Sports Betting Banned In India
- Royal Western India Turf club racing – Mumbai and Pune
- Delhi Race Club in Delhi
- Royal Calcutta Turf Club in Kolkata
- Mysore Race Club in Mysore
- Hyderabad Turf Club in Hyderabad
- Bangalore Turf Club in Bengaluru
- Madras Race Club in Chennai
Is Gambling Allowed In India
So to conclude gambling in India is very much subjective to the type of game. It is also dependent on individual states. Some states like Goa and Sikkim allow most types of gambling while other states do not allow any sorts of gambling.