- Online Casino In India Is Legal Without
- Online Casino In India Is Legal Due
- Online Gambling In India Legal
- Online Casino In India Is Legal To Be
- Is It Legal To Play Online Casino In India
Gambling laws are often disputed, but the fact is that there is no Indian law that prohibits online casinos and therefore Indian gamblers have a right to visit online casino sites. State laws in India overrule national laws, and as such, slot machines and certain table games are permitted at five-star hotels in Goa, Daman, and Sikkim. The Law Commission of India released its report entitled ‘Legal Framework: Gambling and Sports Betting Including in Cricket in India’ (“Report”) on July 5, 2018. A day after releasing the Report, the Commission released a press note stressing that its recommendation was to ban betting and gambling in India. Yes, online betting is legal in India. There are no national laws that prohibit Indians from engaging in online betting. Indian states may formulate their own gambling laws, and some states may have more restrictive laws. However, in the grand scheme of things, online betting remains legal in most of the country. The penalty for online gambling is either a fine of 200 INR to 5000 INR or a sentence of 1-3 years. However, a licensed offshore website is not governed by the Indian law and thus, would not be liable under the same. Players punting at a casino based outside India would not be tried in any Indian court.
India's online gaming industry has been buzzing with activity of late. The industry has already seen phenomenal growth and offers vast potential ahead, given India's young population and the expansive reach of mobiles and internet. Industry revenue is expected to grow from around USD 600 million in FY18 to USD 1.6 billion by FY23, at a CAGR of 22.1%1. Fantasy sports games, in particular, have received much interest from Indian and foreign investors. Dream 11 reportedly became India's first gaming unicorn recently.
Amidst the buzz, a natural question is whether online games are legal in India or not. The answer is unfortunately not a clear one, given India's archaic and complicated legal framework on gaming. Added to the mix is a set of unfortunate recent incidents where players committed suicide after losing money in online games and one where a gaming platform was investigated for money laundering, resulting in some Indian states banning online games.
Legal framework
India does not have a unified law that deals with gaming or gambling (both terms are largely interchangeable for the purposes of Indian laws). The Constitution of India empowers each state to make its own gambling laws. This means there are numerous state-specific deviations. For example, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have banned online games. In West Bengal, games of bridge, poker and rummy are excluded from the definition of gambling. In Kerala, there is a government notification which exempts rummy from gambling if no side-betting is involved. Sikkim and Nagaland require a license for online games.
In many states, gambling laws continue to be modelled on a pre-independence law, the Public Gambling Act, 1867 (OldAct), which is not geared to deal with modern forms of gaming. For instance, this law contemplates games being played in a 'common gaming house' which is a physical space or enclosure.
Even states that recognize online games have differing treatment. Tamil Nadu continues to permit skill-based (but not other) online games while Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have altogether banned online games played for money or stakes.
Absent uniformity or clarity in law, different courts in India have taken differing views on how to treat online games. These views often do not reflect the practicalities of modern gaming. The Supreme Court of India has developed a guiding principle – games where chance dominates over skill are prohibited while games where skill dominates over chance are permitted2. But without an objective test to characterize games of skill and chance, courts have applied this principle differently to different facts. The result is a complex legal regime that makes it difficult to determine whether a particular game is permitted or not.
Three examples of online games that are becoming increasingly popular are discussed below.
Rummy
The Supreme Court has held that under normal circumstances, rummy is a game of skill and is permitted under gambling law3. However, this decision comes with a disclaimer. There should not be any evidence of gambling involved in any other way – game owners should not make profits or gains from rummy and games should not be played for stakes. The disclaimer means that several online rummy games cannot benefit from the Supreme Court's decision since they potentially involve profits for participants, who play for real money, and for game owners, who often charge participation fees.
The Kerala High Court4 also recently held that RummyCircle (online rummy) did not amount to gambling. Bear in mind here that Kerala laws do not treat rummy as gambling if no side-betting is involved, which means that courts in other states may not take the same view.
Poker
Different High Courts have given conflicting decisions on whether poker constitutes a game of skill or chance. While the High Courts of Gujarat5 and Bombay6 have held poker to be a game of chance and therefore prohibited, the Calcutta High Court's view is that poker is not covered under the state's gambling laws (meaning that it is not restricted)7. Again, the background here is that West Bengal gambling laws exclude poker from the definition of gambling.
The Supreme Court8 has also observed that there is no scope for using skill in games like poker double up, blackjack and pacman (meaning they are prohibited). However, this seems to have been a passing observation based on the factual findings of the lower court which had classified these games as games of chance. Again, this means there is no decisive ruling on poker.
Fantasy Sports
Unlike other online games, fantasy sports games have generally been given consistent treatment by Indian courts and have been allowed on the basis that they require skill. Both the Punjab & Haryana and Bombay High Courts have ruled that the games offered by Dream 11 (fantasy cricket, kabbadi, football, etc.) require skill, knowledge, judgement and attention and are outside the scope of gambling9. The Rajasthan High Court has also followed suit10.
The above rulings do inspire confidence in the legality of fantasy sports games. However, it cannot be said that the position is settled yet, since other courts could react differently. For instance, applying the Supreme Court's decision on rummy, if a fantasy sports game owner makes profits from the game or if a participant plays for real money, does this indicate that the game has a gambling character? Unfortunately, we may need to wait for a court to answer this.
Summing up
Recent events do highlight the need to safeguard players but there could be solutions other than complete bans on online games. Instead, appropriate checks and balances could be considered. For instance, the Niti Aayog recently issued draft guiding principles for fantasy sports games which include setting up a self-regulating organization, maintaining predominance of skill in games, seeking approval from an independent committee for pay-to-play games, a minimum age of 18 years for participation, fairness and transparency in game terms and conditions, policies on misuse, advertising norms, etc. The Advertising and Standards Council of India also recently published guidelines for advertisements of real money games on a self-regulation basis.
But for starters, outdated state laws need to be overhauled to recognize online games in the manner they are played today. It may no longer be relevant to prohibit a game solely because it involves profits for game owners or is played for stakes.
Uniformity in legal treatment across states is likely to be a difficult challenge to overcome. Perhaps the Central Government could take measures to encourage deliberations between states to bring in some uniformity in law. Since many state laws rely on the Old Act's provisions, they could consider a model amendment to the Old Act to recognize (or ban) online games. The Niti Aayog's guiding principles are a very positive start and show good intent from the government. Hopefully this will pave the way for a clearer legal framework that caters to modern day gaming.
This article was previously published on Live Law
Footnotes
1 https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/in/pdf/2019/03/online-gaming-india-fantasy-sports.pdf
2 Dr. K.R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu and Anr. (AIR 1996 SC 1153)
3 State of Andhra Pradesh v. K. Satyanarayana (AIR 1968 SC 825)
4 Play Games 24X7 Private Limited and Ors. v. Ramachandran K. and Ors. (2019 4 KLT 542)
5 Dominance Games Pvt. Ltd., v. State of Gujarat (2018 1 GLR 801)
6 Nasir Salim Patel v. State of Maharashtra & Ors., WP (Criminal) 427 of 2017
7 Indian Poker Association v. State of West Bengal, W.P.A. No. 394 of 2019
8 M. J. Sivani v. State of Karnataka (AIR 1995 SC 1770)
9 Gurdeep Singh Sachar v. Union of India and Ors. (2019 75 GST 258 Bombay) and Varun Gumber v. UT Chandigarh (2017 CriLJ 3827)
Online Casino In India Is Legal Without
10 Chandresh Sankhla v. The State of Rajasthan and Ors. (2020 2 RLW 1601 Raj)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
Typing this question into a popular search engine will give you close to 60 million results. It’s also a question that is quite loaded in India, with a lot of grey-area causing complexities and confusion regarding gambling and online casinos in India.
Gambling in India is possible at a small handful of land-based casinos, where only a few states have allowed gambling. These states are Goa, Sikkim, and Daman. You can find the highest concentration of casinos in Goa where half can be found within the obligatory location of five-star hotels and the other half which are moored on the Mandovi river.
Online Casino In India Is Legal Due
In the next sections, we will cover the loophole in which anonline casino is able to operate, how some games of chance are legal, and where to find the bestonline casinos in India.
Are Lotteries in India Legal?
In India, games that contain elements of gambling are often separated into two groups. On the one side, games of skill where the outcome is heavily reliant on a player’s knowledge and talent, are often seen as legal including games and events such as fantasy sports, horse racing, rummy, and poker.
On the other hand, games of chance where a player can win money but has no or a small amount of influence on the outcome are almost all prohibited in India. However, the lottery, despite falling into this latter category of being a game of chance, has been decided to be legal only when it is conducted through the state itself or state-governed authorities, where income and tax through the game can be regulated.
In 1998, the Lottery Act was passed to regulate gambling within the realm of the lottery and 13 states now allow Indian players to legally play the lottery. The money that is generated through lotteries can be treated by the state governments as a separate taxable income.
How Can Online Casinos Accept Indian Players?
Online gambling in India falls into a grey area as there are no laws or acts from a national level that prohibit Indian residents accessing anonline casinothat isn’t based in India. However, states such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra have implemented an online gambling ban, with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala recently joining them.
However, online casinos that are registered overseas are free to target Indian players, with India unable to have any jurisdiction over them. In addition, the outdated Information Technology Act of 2000, which aims to regulate all cyber activity in India fails to mention online gambling.
Therefore, if a player from India decides to gamble online for entertainment, it’s possible to access anonline casinolegally, in accordance with the state laws of course.
What Are the Best Online Casino Sites in India?
Although it’s possible to gambling in India legally, the Advertising Standard Council in India still prohibit gambling to be advertised within its borders. Therefore you won’t be able to see any online gambling sites being promoted in India. Instead, you can rely on online casinoreview sites to find out all the new and bestonline casinos in India to join.
Finding a reputable and trustworthy casino doesn’t have to be difficult. With such a high number of online casinos popping up each month, we can now thank the efforts of online casino expert reviewers to sort through the strong online casinos to the weaker ones.
Online casinoreview sites such as https://www.casinos-india.in/ have done all the hard work for you. Reviewers for Casinos-India.in have already taken the time to comb through all the features of each online casino, meaning if you are looking to find a the best casinos in India to join, all you need is this one website to find the perfect one for you.
You can find comparisons for bonuses, promotion, banking methods, minimum deposits, processing times, and a whole lot more. In addition, review sites like Casinos-India.in have reviewed some online casinos dedicated exclusively to Indian players, so if you’re looking for an online casino with languages available such as Kannada, Bengali, Hindi, or Telugu, you can find it here!
What Games Are Available at an Online Casino in India?
You will be able to find all the most recent games from top software providers such as Play’n GO at the best casinos in India. This casino game software provider is worth mentioning specifically as they are leaders in the iGaming industry and continue to consistently produce top quality games, all since their launch in 1997.
When online casinos in India carry www.playngo.com’s games, players can be sure to get some of the best mobile gameplay around as Play’n GO are at the forefront of developing games for smartphones, tablets, and game terminals.
Bringing Indian Games into The Realm of Online Gambling In India
Online Gambling In India Legal
All the best casinos in Indiawill ensure they provide many classic Indian games and give them a digital makeover. It’s possible to find games like Andar Bahar and Teen Patti online, and even sometimes available to play as a live dealer casino game. As more online casinos begin to exclusively dedicate themselves the best casinos in India for Indian players, not including Teen Patti and Andah Bahar would be a missed opportunity. In addition, if playing the game is a source of entertainment for many people, why shouldn’t an online casino provide the opportunity to potentially win some money along the way?
Can You Play in Rupees Online?
Online Casino In India Is Legal To Be
To satisfy the conditions of India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999, all online casinos in India that offer their services to Indian players must allow transactions to be completed in rupees. This means from depositing to withdrawing, Indian players won’t have the hassle of converting rupees into another currency and mitigates any chances of running into conversion fees along the way while using the online casino website.
Many online casinos also offer other payment methods through digital currency. Popular e-Wallets in India such as PhonePe, Paytm, and MobiKwik are commonly found as payment options on online casinos, giving Indian players a greater choice for depositing and withdrawing money.
Is It Legal To Play Online Casino In India
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can find more of them here: