Online Gambling Is Legal In India

4/13/2022

Online Gambling Act In India
Online Gambling Laws In India
Online Gambling Is Legal In Indiana

Online Gaming/Gambling laws in India prohibit betting or wagering and any act which is intended to aid or facilitate the same. Gaming/Gambling being a State subject, gaming/gambling in India have laws which differ from state to state . This would mean what is permitted in one State may be an offence in another. The Public Gambling Act, 1867, is the central enactment on the subject, which has been adopted by certain states of India like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh etc. The other States have enacted their own legislation to regulate gaming / gambling in India activities within its territory. It is to be noted that State Legislations have been enacted prior to the advent of virtual / online gambling in India and therefore references of gaming/gambling in India, in respective state legislatures are in relation to physical premises only, barring Sikkim and Nagaland which are the only States who have introduced regulations pertaining the online gaming.

Parimatch Online Casino in India - Legal Gambling in Indian Rupees Parimatch online casino in India India is a country where the government is fighting against gambling. It is considered to be forbidden fruit. The Indian gambling market can be a tricky one at times and you need to know where to place a bet. Here are online casinos legal in India with the latest games. The list with the top rated gambling sites in India looks at the legitimacy, legality, bonuses, payout and deposit policies of the best online casinos in India. According to the Public Gambling act of 1867, all kinds of Gambling is illegal in India, however, it doesn’t state that online gambling is illegal. Also since the payments are routed through a third party client like Neteller, Skrill, etc. Hence no Indian resident can be accused of gambling. An online gambling website has to follow at least two different sets of laws. These include the gambling laws of India and the cyber law of India. Since the gambling activity is planned to be conducted through a website and in an online environment, the information technology act, 2000, which is the cyber law of India, has to be religiously. However, online gamblingin India has started to take baby steps when it comes to the legal scenario. At the state level, rules are being framed regarding online gambling. So far, only Sikkim and Nagaland have come up with laws favoring online gambling. Maharashtra, on the other hand, does not allow online gambling.

After going through the State gambling laws for online gambling in India, it is found that, except the State of Orissa and Assam, most of the States have excluded ‘games of skill’ from applicability of its respective gaming/gambling laws. Further, playing certain games including ‘Poker’, both online and offline, is permitted under the laws of West Bengal, Nagaland and Sikkim subject to licence from the appropriate State Authorities. But this would be applicable only in the territorial limits of the respective State. In Goa, gambling is permitted only in Government permitted places operated as casinos.

The issue of online gambling in India laws in India still remains a grey area which is yet to be adjudicated by Courts of India. Having said that, necessary inferences can be drawn from orders passed by the Court while deciding the issue of whether a particular game is a ‘game of skill’ or a ‘game of chance’. But the issue of whether a ‘game of chance’, if played like a sport without stakes amount to gambling or not? still remains largely undecided.

Game of Skill v. Game of Chance:

There has been a substantial discussion by Supreme Court and High Court on what constitutes a ‘game of skill’ and a ‘game of chance’. What is adduced from the judgments is that a game where there is preponderance of skill over chance is a ‘game of skill’ and vice-versa.

By taking the above ratio into account, SC in the matter of State of AP v. K.Satyanarayana(1968) held the game of Rummy to be a ‘game of skill’. However, the Court in its judgment has indicated that if there is gambling or if the gambling house is making profit from the game of rummy, then it could amount to an offense under the laws of AP. It was further observed by SC that the three card game which goes under different names such as flush, brag, etc. is a game of pure chance. This was relied upon by SC in another its other judgments viz. M.J.Sivani v. State of Karnataka (1995) and Dr. K.R. Lakshmanan vs State Of Tamil Nadu And Anr (1996).

The issue of whether rummy if played with stakes amounts to gambling or not has not been decided by Supreme Court. However, Andra Pradesh High Court in D. Krishna Kumar And Anr. vs State Of A.P.(2002) (Annexure-2) relying upon the SC decision of 1968 held that till such time the state gambling Act is amended to lay down that playing Rummy with stakes is 'gaming', playing Rummy with stakes is not 'gaming' within the meaning of the Act and is therefore allowed.

Delhi District Court: Gaussian Network Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Monica Lakhanpal

The issue of Online Gaming/gambling laws in India was discussed in detailed in the above case when the issue was put up before the Court under Order 36 Rule(1) of CPC by the parties. The Court held the following:

Game of skills, if played with stakes does not amount to gambling;
Playing games of skill for money is only legal in the real form, online games cannot be compared to real games;
Attracting business or enticing players by alluring them with prize money is illegal;
Gaming sites partaking a slice on the winning hand are illegal as they amount to a virtual gambling house.

Having said that, the said ruling was rendered infructuous as during the final arguments in the Revision petition, parties sought to withdraw the petition. So the effect being there is no ruling which can be treated as a precedent as regards online gambling.

Gujarat High Court on Poker:

The issue whether Poker is a ‘game of skill’ or a ‘game of chance’ was never discussed in detail by any Court in India until the recent decision/order dated December 4, 2017 passed by Gujrat High Court in Dominance Games Pvt. Ltd. V. State of Gujarat, wherein, the said issue was extensively pondered upon. The Court in its said decision held that Poker is a ‘game of chance’ and therefore amounts to gambling under Gujarat Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887. While arriving at the aforesaid decision, the Court inter alia observed the following:

That the game of poker originated from ‘flush’ or ‘Indian teenpatti’ which has been observed by SC as a game of chance in its 1968 judgment and consequently, as a corollary, the game of poker is also to be construed as a game of chance;
The game of poker involves a process wherein the players have no control or say on the cards received by them and the final outcome is based on mere luck or chance depending upon how the cards are received by the player. Poker face to bet, would be a part of bluffing or deception and the so-called strategy, cannot be considered as a skill. The outcome also depends on the ability of a player to spend money and how deep are his pockets. It is a game of deceiving, bluffing and duping other players;
The game of Rummy is different than Poker. While poker involves betting or wagering, rummy has nothing to do with stakes and betting or wagering is not essential to the game of rummy;
The Court while noting the ills of gambling and impact of gambling on the moral fibre of society noted that ‘one must not overlook the ground realities in India or the country like India, where the majority of the population is struggling for the basic necessity and there is lack of awareness amongst the people and if they are permitted by betting in the craze of easy money, they do not know what to do if the things go wrong.’

Mr. K.N Suresh, Secretary of Indian Poker Association has filed an appeal against the said order, being Letters Patent Appeal No. 2625 of 2017 before the Division Bench of Gujarat High Court. The bench after hearing the matter briefly on December 28, 2017 issued notice to the state government and other respondents, and till date the matter is not heard finally. Having said that, since no ad-interim/interim reliefs are granted presently, the Single Judge order stands valid and enforceable.

Though the order does not specifically make any observation on Poker, if played as a sport and/or without stakes, however, while differentiating between rummy and poker, the Hon’ble Court at para 60 of the said order makes a presumption that wagering or betting is an inseparable part of the game of poker and therefore would involve stake. The Court while holding Poker to be a ‘game of chance’ has also predominantly relied upon moral religious and social grounds. In the absence of the said order being overruled and the issue being addressed specifically, the game of poker, even if played as a sport and/or without stakes remains a grey area which is then left at the discretion of police authorities.

POSITION:

Though the issue of Poker was considered by Gujarat High Court in view of the provisions of Gujarat Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887, in arriving at the decision of Poker being a ‘game of chance’, the court made several observations like how the game is played, origin of the game, reference to ancient Indian literature, moral and religious grounds, etc. which may be applied by other states/state machinery having similar gambling laws. The issue is likely to be clarified by Division Bench of Gujarat High Court, once the appeal is finally heard.

In view of the above, it is clear that if a game is considered to be a ‘game of chance’ under the state laws and rulings by the Courts and is played with stakes, would constitute gambling under the respective state laws with exception pertaining to a few states as mentioned above. If an entity is able to show that a particular online game or a particular on-ground gaming activity has preponderance of skill over chance and/or is played as a sport without stakes, it may fall within the exception of gaming/gambling under the state gambling laws. It is pertinent to note however that if online gaming is illegal in any State, the promotion of the same in such State would amount to violation of ASCI Code as well as Cable TV Network Regulation Act, 1994.

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Gambling in India has become a very large enterprise, and not everything is actually legal to gamble on. It is extremely important for you to know about both sides of the coin, that way you can have fun without worrying about anything. There are even specific court rulings in throughout the different provinces in India that determine what other forms of satta are legal.

Definitely Legal Gambling

When traveling through India, you will always run into one form of gambling that is certainly legal. This particular form is by the way of lotteries. This is a very ironic practice on behalf of the country, seeing as how they have made illegal any forms of gambling or betting where the game is based on chance or no skill. Lottery has no skill involved and it is entirely dependent on a chance outcome – unlike sports gambling or other were a degree of analysis is needed. The many different lotteries are sponsored and promoted through India.

Another legal form of gambling is horse race betting. However, there is a catch. You can only bet on a horse race if you go to the province that has the racetrack. This means that you are only allowed to satta on horses where there is a racecourse. Online betting is completely illegal (per se, it is a gray area really; but we are not lawyers and this is just an opinion from our research), but in this case, you are legally allowed to bet on live horse races at authorized tracks in India and only that.

A Gray Area of Gambling

Land based casinos are in a gray area when it comes to legality. There are only two states in India that have and allow casinos to operate; they are Goa and Sikkim. This would make some of the casino games legal, but only when played in those states and those casinos. Everywhere else India is very restricted when it comes to betting and gambling, and that would include sports betting.

There are certain casino card games that are quite popular through the Indian provinces that also fall under this category. For example, we have rummy, poker, or satti pe satti that are highly played, but no one truly knows whether they are legal or not. This is all thanks to the obscure laws that do not define these games as games of skill or chance. Seeing as how poker is not specifically said to be a game of chance, it is not illegal; however, as it is not specifically said to be a game of skill, it is not legal either. This is what leaves many confused.

Illegal but Still Popular

As I mentioned before, sports wagering is illegal in India, but if you take a look at the total amount of revenue that is generated by this, at least half is thanks to illegal gambling. When we start talking about anything online, whether it is online casinos or bookmakers, it has been enforced very strictly in India. There have been two laws that were passed to limit and make online gambling illegal; the Information Technology Act of 2000 and the Federal Information Technology Act of 2011. Each of these laws states that it is illegal to transmit or publish “information that can corrupt people”, which includes gambling. With the law being passed in 2011, it is now up to the Internet Service Providers to stop and block the offshore gambling sites.

Banking Methods Restricted

The main way that India has tried to stop online sports gambling is by restricting the banking methods that you can use. For instance, the Bank of India has blocked the use of the VISA or MasterCard credit cards from being used to deposit money into online bookmakers. However, do not fret, there are many other options that sports bettors like you use to deposit and wager on cricket or football online. They use ewallets, which are online banking services that act as a middle man between you and the bookmaker. We do not condone illegal behavior, but it is already rampant in India and it would be more beneficial to legalize it, rather than restrict it (as a personal opinion).

Reasons to Legalize Gambling in India

There have been many arguments towards legalizing gambling in India, especially when it comes to sports betting.

• Funds attained illegally through illegal sports and other forms of gambling have been tied to the funding and preservation of terrorist acts. In other words, the money that is made due to it being illegal is used to fund terrorism, as well as drugs.

Online Gambling Act In India

• Legalizing sports betting will reduce the amount of illegal wagers, as well as increase the amount of potential regulation on the industry. If they legalize it, they can actually keep a closer eye on the different activities.

• It will increase the countries revenue. We can even use Sikkim as an example. Neighboring country Nepal has legal casino gambling, and many chose to cross the border for their gambling needs. Sikkim saw this as a waste of potential income, and decided to create a casino in their border city. This has led to a much more prosperity than if they had not done anything.

Online Gambling Laws In India