Reasons Why Online Gambling is Popular in India

Free Online Bonuses & Casino Games in India

Here at CasinoTop, we’re well aware that our Indian players have a right to sample online offerings before they commit to any online casino site. As such, we recommend online casino sites that offer their players a plethora of gaming titles that can be played for free before signing up. The sites that we recommend will offer prospective members the opportunity to try hundreds of games, from across genres, for free. This includes traditional casino games, such as poker, blackjack and roulette, and even the most popular specialty gaming titles from renowned software providers.

One of the most exciting and attractive aspects of signing up for an online casino is the exclusive bonuses in store. As the online gaming industry continues to grow, operators are constantly improving on their bonus offers to secure a greater share of the market. This is great news for Indian players who would like to take advantage of these offers and get more out of every Rupee they deposit.

When it comes to online casino bonuses, welcome bonuses are the most well known and lucrative. As such, we encourage all new members at online casino sites to take full advantage of this once-off offer. Welcome bonuses usually include a deposit match bonus plus free spins and/or other perks. Great welcome bonuses can offer new players match bonuses of up to 200% of their first deposit in bonus credit.

Online casino operators make use of deposit bonuses to attract new players, as can be seen with the welcome bonus, or to encourage existing members to frequently fund their gaming accounts. These bonuses will award players with bonus credit to the value of a specified percentage of their deposit. This percentage can range between 50 and 200% of the deposit amount. Similar to the welcome bonus, a deposit match or bonus comes with terms, conditions and wagering requirements that we encourage our Indian players to read through before opting in.

While most online casino operators have done away with no deposit bonuses, there are still a handful of Indian online casino sites that will offer this bonus to their players. As the name of this offer implies, players don’t need to deposit any real cash to receive the set amount of bonus credit attached to this offer. However, there is usually a limit to the maximum amount of bonus credit that can be awarded as well as restrictions on the games that can be played with credits from a no deposit bonus.

1.1        Which entities regulate what type of gambling and social/skill gaming activity in your jurisdiction?

1.2        Specify: (i) the law and regulation that applies to the Relevant Products in your jurisdiction; and (ii) – in broad terms – whether it permits or prohibits the offer of Relevant Products to persons located in your jurisdiction.

In India, the legislative powers are divided between the centre and the states under the Constitution of India, 1950 (“Constitution”).  Under its Seventh Schedule, the Constitution grants each state (province) of the country, the exclusive power to enact its own laws on “betting and gambling” for its own territory.  The Public Gambling Act, 1867 (“Public Gambling Act”), a colonial-era statute still in force, has been adopted by several states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, with some states making their state amendments to it too.  Other states have enacted their own pieces of legislation to regulate gaming/gambling activities within their territories under their Gaming Laws.  Most of these are broadly modelled on the Public Gambling Act, albeit with suitable modifications.

A majority of the Gaming Laws are pre-internet statutes and therefore prohibit gambling activities only in physical premises which are referred to as “gaming houses” or “common gaming houses”.  The states of Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya have a licensing regime for online games.  Sikkim has it for online games and sports games with the conditions that they can be offered only via intranet terminals and to the exclusion of its state residents.  Nagaland has a licensing regime only for online skill games.  Meghalaya has recently introduced a licensing regime for both games of skill and games of chance, though it is yet to introduce the allied rules and regulations which provide more granular details.  The states of Assam, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh prohibit activities in relation to online gaming including skill gaming.

Most state laws have specific exemptions for games of “mere skill”.  “Mere skill”  has been judicially interpreted to mean games preponderantly of skill.  However, instead of laying down objective criteria to distinguish games of skill from games of chance, courts in India have done the determination on the facts and circumstances of each case.  Only the states of Nagaland and Meghalaya have licensing regimes for skill games and the Nagaland Act and the Meghalaya Act include a list of recognised games of skill.

The states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu recently amended their respective state Gaming Laws by either diluting or removing the express exemption provided to skill games, and imposed a blanket prohibition on all games played for stakes, including skill games and online games.  The state of Kerala had also issued an executive notification early in 2021 prohibiting online gaming platforms from offering rummy for monetary stakes in the state.  All these changes to the respective Gaming Laws were challenged in the courts.  Legal challenges to the amendments done to the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act, 1974 and the Telangana Gaming Act, 1974 are pending before the respective regional High Courts.  In August 2021, the Madras High Court in the state of Tamil Nadu quashed the aforesaid amendments to the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 as ultra vires the Constitution.  However, while real money gaming operators can resume their operations in the State, the reprieve may be short-lived as the new state government has already announced that it would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”).  Details of the same are awaited.  In September 2021, the Kerala High Court quashed the state government’s aforesaid notification which had banned online rummy for stakes declaring it arbitrary, illegal and violative of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, especially the right to trade, business, profession and occupation.  The court held that stakes cannot be a criterion to decide whether a game is based on skill or chance and even without the aforesaid notification, landmark Supreme Court judgments have established that rummy remains a “game of mere skill” and therefore exempt from the prohibitions of the Kerala Gaming Act 1960.

Casino

Casino products (including table games, live dealer and slots) fall within the category of “games preponderantly of chance” and therefore would be hit by the prohibitions under most Gaming Laws.  The following states and union territory are the only exceptions to this general rule.

1. The Goa Act allows the offering of “games of electronic amusement/slot machines” in five-star hotels in the territories of Goa, Daman and Diu under a licensing regime.  Table games and gaming can also be offered on board offshore vessels, under the terms of the licence.
2. Similarly, in Sikkim, the Sikkim Casino Act read with Sikkim Casino Games Commencement (Control and Tax) Rules, 2007 also prescribe a licence regime for casino games in five-star hotels within the territory of Sikkim.  The Sikkim Act covers certain casino games such as roulette, casino brag and blackjack.  These games may be offered through the intranet within the state of Sikkim only.
3. The Meghalaya Act prescribes a licensing regime for games of chance, specifically including games such as slots, roulette, keno, wheel of fortune, baccarat, etc.  How and subject to what conditions such a licence will operate is yet to be determined as rules/regulations are yet to be framed in this regard by the state government.

Poker

Certain Gaming Laws/courts in certain states have specifically recognised poker as a game of skill.  For instance, the West Bengal Gambling and Prize Competitions Act, 1957 specifically excludes poker from the definition of “gaming or gambling”.  Judicial pronouncements of the local High Court have also asserted that playing poker cannot attract penalisation or harassment by the police.  This, however, is likely to extend to formats such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hold’em poker only.  The states of Nagaland and Meghalaya, however, expressly categorise poker as a game of skill.  The High Court of Gujarat has opined that poker is a game of chance; however, this matter is under appeal.

Bingo

As stated in the table above, most formats of bingo may fall either in the category of lotteries or games of chance.  In case of the latter, they would be barred under most Gaming Laws.  For lotteries, please refer to the respective section below.

Betting

If the betting is on games of chance, then it would attract the prohibitions under the Gaming Laws.  If it is on casino games, please refer to the relevant row at question 1.1 above.  For sports betting and fantasy sports, please refer to the relevant section below.

Horse Race Betting

The Supreme Court has held betting on horse racing to be a game of skill and consequently entitled to the skill games exemption in the Gaming Laws.  There is additionally a specific exemption for betting on horse racing in most Gaming Laws too.  The latter is subject to statutory conditions prescribed by the respective Gaming Law such as the betting taking place on the day of the race, within state government-designated enclosures, etc.  Also, the club where the race takes place (turf club) may impose additional conditions on betting.

In case of online betting on horse races, not only would the requirements under the Gaming Laws have to be met but also the conditions imposed by the respective turf club: both of which would be difficult to do.  However, one may argue that in light of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Dr. K. R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu (“Lakshmanan Case”), betting on horse races exists independently as a skill game without having to rely on the specific exemption for it within the Gaming Laws.  The state governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal have granted permission to the respective turf clubs to offer online betting on horse races.  However, the permission granted to the Bangalore Turf Club in July 2020 was withdrawn in December 2020 after a public interest litigation (“PIL”) was filed in the Karnataka High Court questioning the legality of the permission.  During the proceedings, the court sought a response from the state government as to the legal basis on which the said permission was granted.  However, instead of giving its response, the state government withdrew the permission and the said PIL was consequently disposed of.  On the other hand, the permission granted to the Royal Calcutta Turf Club has not been challenged and the club has also recently tied up with foreign race operators to offer their races on the online betting platform.  Meanwhile in Karnataka, enforcement action has also been recently reported against those engaging in online betting on horse races.

Sports Betting

As mentioned above, the issue of whether sports betting is a game of skill or not is pending before the Supreme Court in the case of Geeta Rani v. Union of India (“Sports Betting Case”).  The petitioner therein has impleaded the central government and almost all state governments as respondents, seeking legalisation and regularisation of sports betting.  However, the case is yet to get a proper hearing and was last listed in October 2019.

Fantasy Sports

The High Courts of Punjab & Haryana, Bombay and Rajasthan, in different cases, have upheld the status of fantasy sports as a game of skill and consequently exempted them from the prohibitions under the Gaming Laws and are also protected under the Constitution as a business activity.  Affirming this in a significant observation, the Supreme Court recently in Avinash Mehrotra v. State of Rajasthan held that the issue of legality of fantasy sports was no longer res integra and petitions challenging the legality have repeatedly been dismissed by the Supreme Court.  However, it also noted that an appeal from the Bombay High Court judgment delivered in the case of Gurdeep Singh Sachar v. Union of India & Ors. was pending before a separate larger bench.  The said appeal is still at a preliminary stage with notices having been issued to the relevant parties and the effect of the impugned Bombay High Court judgment stayed.

The Nagaland Act and the Meghalaya Act have enacted licensing regimes for offering fantasy sports.  Both the said Acts expressly recognise “virtual team selection games” and “virtual sports fantasy league games” as games of skill.  The licensing authority in Nagaland is the Finance Commissioner, whereas in Meghalaya it is the state government as of now, with more detailed rules and regulations yet to be framed.

Lotteries

The Lottery Laws do not permit private lotteries and authorise only the state governments to run lotteries subject to the conditions and regulations prescribed in the Lottery Laws.  As per the Constitution, lotteries fall within the legislative domain of the central government in India, and hence state governments must abide by the conditions prescribed under the Lottery Laws.  The state government may appoint private persons or companies to facilitate the conduct of the state-run lottery.  Some states such as Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have banned lotteries while some other states have permitted only not-for-profit lotteries.  Currently, approximately 13 state governments in India offer lotteries.

Social/Casual Gaming

As mentioned above, in the absence of monetary or equivalent stakes, most current state Gaming Laws are unlikely to be triggered.  There is no specific regulator for this category of gaming either.  However, depending upon the content of such games, other laws such as intellectual property laws, information technology laws or laws against obscenity, etc may be triggered.  These include but are not limited to the IPC, the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 (“IRWA”).

Skill Games

As mentioned before, most Gaming Laws have express exemptions for games of skill wherever played and hence such games may be offered in online and land-based modes in such states.  However, as discussed above, the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have banned skill games by making amendments to their respective Gaming Laws.  Hence, as of now, skill games for stakes cannot be offered in these states.  As discussed above, the states of Nagaland and Meghalaya have a licensing regime for skill games.

Online Baccarat

A favourite card game for high roller gambling found at all Indian online casinos is online baccarat. Perhaps best known as James Bond’s favoured game, this intriguing game has something for all players.

Newbies will enjoy the simpleness of Punto Banco, while experienced players might prefer the challenge of Baccarat Controlled Squeeze and No Commission Baccarat are other popular versions of the game.

At online casinos, you’ll find online baccarat games within the live casino. Here you’ll be gambling with a live dealer, along with other players, and if you’re lucky, you’ll come out on top!

Online Casino India – Top Sites for Real Money Gambling

What’s the best online casino India considered legal and safe for real money gambling? The answer lies in our extensive list of casinos in India with rupees as a currency. If it’s not legal, safe, and simply the best, you won’t find it on this list!

Home » Gambling » Online Casino India – Top Sites for Real Money Gambling

Gambling

by Mattias Fröbrant

July 16, 2022 0 591

FDI is prohibited in the following activities/sectors

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin is accepted at most online casinos operating with a license from Curacao. Just because a casino accepts these currencies as payment options do, however, not mean that your account currency will be anything other than rupees.

Playing at a Bitcoin casino allows you to add real cash instantly and also get your withdrawals within minutes. Usual withdrawal processing time will apply from the casino’s end, but there is no transaction time once your cashout has been approved.

To add real cash using Bitcoin or other cryptos at your online casino, choose the cryptocurrency option on the cashier’s page.

4. Availability of Other Casino Games

Does an online casino site offer variety when it comes to games? Does it have games such as scratchcards, virtual sports, video poker, and arcades apart from casino staples such as blackjack, baccarat, and roulette?

We take all of this into consideration while evaluating the sites.