Is it legal to gamble online in India?

When it comes to online gambling, India isn’t much different from the rest of the world

Is it legal to gamble online in India?

When it comes to online gambling, India isn’t much different from the rest of the world. Like in most countries around the globe, online betting is in what we call the grey zone. The fact is that gambling is forbidden in India, but there is no law that makes online betting illegal. The same goes for Esports betting. This area of law is completely non-regulated and for gamblers, this is the best possible situation.

Like most other countries in the world, India still waits for legal regulations of online betting or sports betting. The fact is that the Indian law still relies on an ancient Public Gambling Act, which dates from 1867. At the time, there were no such things as the internet and online casinos, or even land-based casinos in India, so you may presume the practical use of this law. It has been revised a couple of times, but all those revisions refer to land-based casinos.

According to the Public Gambling Act, all forms of gambling are illegal. On the other side, there is no law that says anything about online gambling. That’s the reason why we say that online gambling is neither legal nor illegal in this Asian country.

Therefore, things are pretty simple here. If you live in India, you can bet online without any worries. Of course, the only catch is that websites need to be located outside India, in countries where online casinos are legal. There are a lot of online sites sharing a list of potential casinos in which you could play at. The casino list site Casinomartini just launched in India, which can help you finding secure casinos. There is no law that doesn’t allow an individual person to gamble online. Still, there is one more catch you should consider. You need to find a website that accepts deposits from Indian bank accounts.

When it comes to sports betting, most major bookmakers accept bets from India. On the other side, things aren’t that great with online casinos. Still, there is a relatively decent number of casinos that accept payments from every Indian state. Every online casino has a different policy, but these things generally bother players from all parts of the world.

At this point, you can be serene. However, that doesn’t mean that things won’t change in the future, maybe even sooner than you thing. The fact is that every country of the world tends to regulate this kind of gambling, so India isn’t an exception.

Some countries have already regulated internet gambling. For example, there is the American Internet Gambling Prohibition Act in the United States. Of course, it’s not perfect, but it regulates this area at least in some way. The problem with regulations of this kind is that things are rapidly changing, so constant updates are needed.

When it comes to the most popular forms of gambling in India, sports betting is far more popular compared to an online casino. Still, that margin is getting smaller every year. Among the most popular sports games, it’s not hard to presume that cricket is the most popular. Also, horse racing is positioned very high as well. Naturally, other sports are popular as well, particularly football and tennis. Indian players prefer most renowned UK-based bookmakers, such as William Hill, Bet365, Ladbrokes etc.

Date Of Update: 03 November 2019, 17:59