India is a country where more than one billion people reside, and many people among them enjoy gambling. Playing on slot machines are now almost as popular as betting on cricket and any other forms of sports betting in India. And gambling in general is quickly rising in popularity. Especially online casinos have opened the door to this form of entertainment to many Indian players and it’s easily accessible from PC and also mobile and tablets to be able to play great games while on the go.
But, even though there are a lot of gamblers emerging from India, laws, and regulations are restricting the states from gambling. This article is all about gambling laws and regulations one must know before visiting India.
Online Gambling
Just like owning any land-based casinos in India is restricted, so is online gambling. Online gambling is also restricted where only two states can carry on the fully-fledged online casino gambling. One state being Sikkim. But the use of online casinos by Indian players is increasing in very high numbers since the use of VPNs and online casinos catering specifically to the Indian market. As far as we know, there has been no legal prosecution or consequences for players based in India who play online either in a casino or on safe and secure sportsbooks.
How to play an online casino
There are many comparison sites where you can find the best casino and sportsbook for you. Do your research and decide based on reviews of the individual casino and sportsbook, and we recommend that you always use a good VPN or similar tools when gambling from within India, regardless of which state you are in.
Registering to an online casino is easy and doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Make sure your details are correct and you should have no problems with your player account. Expect to be asked to verify your identity when your winnings and withdrawals reach a certain level. The amount of where the verification comes in varies from operator to operator but is usually around 2,500 USD.
Deposits and withdrawal can be done with several different methods, good examples are Skrill, Paymt, bank transfer (this does take a little more time than the instant transfers of Skrill), and prepaid Paysafe cards. Cryptocurrency is also making its way into the gambling world, and more and more casinos and sportsbooks are opening for this payment method for their players. How to deposit is always clearly explained in the casinos and also on the comparison sites, like for instance asiabet.org.
Laws and Regulation
It was in the year 1867, India passed a law named the Public Gaming Act restricted many states from gambling. Even though the Act is 100 years old, the law concerning gambling remains still the same. The law prohibited anyone to own and play gambling. But there were no other laws that mentioned that gambling is illegal in India. There are also no rules that betting over the famous sport adorned by the citizen, cricket is prohibited. It is not pretty much sure what the laws mean as there is additionally some sort of betting and gambling undergoing in India.
Horse Racing Betting
From time immemorial, Horse Racing Betting has been much popularized in India. It attracts a lot of audiences and several bookmakers and other operators. Even though gambling is regulated in many states, horse betting is legalized in India. This might because the Horse Racing Betting doesn’t have that complicated rules like the other betting in casinos.
Lotteries
The type of gambling that is very feasible in India is none other than Lotteries. Lotteries are known as gambling based on chance and not skill, but India is okay with lottery gambling. India, Lotteries law was passed in the year 1998 where anyone could do the act of lotteries. Even though the act was passed even at the federal level it is only the state government that has the full authorization to do the jurisdiction.
Casino Gambling
The next topic is casino gambling in India. In India, presently there are only two states where the casino gambling regulation has been feasible. The first state is Goa and Sikkim being the second. In Goa, slot machines were slowly incorporated into hotels and later changed them into completely working casino. Whereas, Sikkim has been purely legalized to land-based casinos. These both are the only states that have legal casinos in their land.
Conclusion
While mentioning casinos and India, one may not be pretty clear whether casinos are illegal or legal, but if it is not, we can assume that the country will soon change the concept and embrace the platform. If you choose a safe and secure online provider, you should experience no problems with your gambling, even though you are playing from India. We wish you the best of luck and enjoy the excitement!
