Are Online Casinos Really Legal In India?

A simple answer to this question would be Yes, much to our comfort. However, a simple explanation that always follows this answer is ‘it’s not technically illegal’.

Regulation of online gambling in India is in the hands of the Federal system, much like Canada, which bestows individual states with the power to legalize or ban online casinos. However, for states that wish to prohibit the activity, there is no specified law, unlike the USA that has the American Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. 

The Public Gambling Act (1867) states that all kinds of gambling are prohibited in India. In its true sense, however, only a single state — Maharashtra — implements the law and declares online gambling and casinos as an illegal offense under it. 

Online Casinos in Sikkim and Goa, on the other hand, are legalized under clearly demarcated regulations issued by the states in the form of memorandums like Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Rules, 2009. 

For a country with a highly organized cybercrime branch in place, it seems rather vague for hardly a few states to come to terms with the adaption of laws according to digital revolutions.

Legal Online Casinos In India: A Loophole Or Deliberation?

Besides a couple of states that legally license online casinos, the industry at large remains to be looked at with uncertainty given the discretion of the Federal Governments and unclear stand of the Central Government. This leads us to safely assume that Indian casinos are technically legal but we still seek concrete legal validation.

ITA-2000 or the IT Act of 2000, for instance, is an Indian regulation to the legalities of activities online. According to this act, the Government continues to hold the power to block foreign websites and other online forums that they deem threatening to the cybersecurity of Indians.

Exercising this power, the Government limits Indians to access foreign betting websites through errors that look like ‘the contents of this website are not available in your geographic location’. This actually the IPS politely blocking the sites for us and preventing us from investing and gambling overseas. 

However, these make only a handful. A majority of Indian gamblers trust international online casinos with gambling licenses — an activity that surpasses the scope of regulation by any law in India.

The question thus remains — if international online casinos are legal, why are there no regulations to legalize/illegalize Indian online casinos?

Despite being the primary law for dealing with e-commerce and cybercrimes in India, ITA-2000 has no provisions for online gambling. That leaves us with two plausible reasons:

1. Online gambling cashes in big money. The internationally popular, globally integrating league of Cricket, the Indian Premier League is a frontrunner in the online gambling scene wherein the official site gives you multiple options to bet. If the Government were to declare online casinos illegal, platforms like these would technically become big fat casinos and all of that revenue would be lost.

2. Regulation and apprehension of online gambling offenders is a responsibility that Indian cyberspace may not be ready to take owing to the limitations of the online infrastructure, particularly when the websites are offshore. 

While the intentions of authorities seem quite unclear to foresee any near future modifications in the law, prevailing conditions make one thing absolutely clear — you can enjoy gambling on online casinos in India. With the many attractive welcome and bonus offers, you can win big too – which translates to a fun and rewarding time. Guides such as  onlinecasino-india.com can help you find a safe and legal casino to play at.