Gambling Offence In India

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Legal Forms of Gambling in India. 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. Unofficially, India is planning to legalize gambling in the online form. There will be 3 different licenses for gambling providers and each one of them will be able to choose the license he prefers. This will transform the gambling industry in the country and will offer impressive possibilities. There won’t be limits there. They argue that casinos increase the amount of traffic, pollution, and crime. As a result, cities find themselves paying the cost of dealing with these issues. Because Indian casinos pose a threat to the Non-Indian casinos, a gambling competition has developed between the two kinds of casinos. In some Indian States, the activity of gaming/gambling per se (irrespective of the medium through which such games are offered or played) is an offence, such as in the States of Assam or Orissa. Operators take a conservative approach and do not offer their games in these States.

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.

Gambling

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.

• 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.

• It will lower the amount of policing that has to be done to enforce the current laws. This will give their citizens more freedom, as well as helping. When people are free to gamble, they are visible to the government, making it much easier to tackle social problems like addictive gambling.

Gambling in India varies by state as states in India are entitled to formulate their own laws for gambling activities. Some states like Goa have legalised casinos. Common gambling activities like organized betting is restricted except for selective categories including lotteries and horse racing.

In the 21st century, more people have started making cash bets upon prohibited betting and gambling activities in India. Critics of gambling claim that it leads to crime, corruption and money laundering. However, proponents of regulated gambling argue that it can be a huge source of revenue for the state. Casinos in Goa contributed Rs. 135 crores to the state revenue in 2013.[1]

Casinos now operate in Goa, Daman and Sikkim.[2]

Legality[edit]

Gambling is a state subject, and only states in India are entitled to formulate laws for gambling activities within their respective states. The Public Gambling Act of 1867 is a central law that prohibits running or being in charge of a public gambling house. The penalty for breaking this law is a fine of ₹200 or imprisonment of up to 3 months. Additionally, this Act prohibits visiting gambling houses. A fine of ₹100 or imprisonment of up to one month is the penalty.[3]

Indian law classifies games into two broad categories viz. game of skill and game of chance. The Supreme Court of India has, for instance, held[4]

The game of Rummy is not a game entirely of chance like the ‘three-card’ game mentioned in the Madras case to which we were referred. The ‘three card’ game which goes under different names such as ‘flush’, ‘brag’ etc. is a game of pure chance. Rummy, on the other hand, requires a certain amount of skill because the fall of the cards has to be memorised and the building up of Rummy requires considerable skill in holding and discarding cards. We cannot, therefore, say that the game of Rummy is a game of entire chance. It is mainly and preponderantly a game of skill.

The Information Technology Act 2000 regulates cyber activities in India does not mention the word Gambling or Betting thereby the act was left for interpretation by the Courts which have refused to examine the matter. Further, online gambling is a banned offense in the state of Maharashtra under the 'Bombay Wager Act'.

Only three states allow casinos, Goa , Daman and Sikkim.[5] There are two casinos in Sikkim called Casino Sikkim and Casino Mahjong and 10 in Goa, of which six are land based and four are floating casinos that operate on the Mandovi River. The floating casinos in Goa are Casino Deltin Royale, Casino Deltin Jaqk, Casino Pride and Casino Pride 2. While the first two are controlled by the Deltin Group, the latter two are managed by the Pride Group. According to the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976 casinos can be set up only at five star hotels or offshore vessels with the prior permission of the government. This has led the Deltin Group to open the first land based Casino in Daman which is open now. News reports also suggest that Visakhapatnam is also being looked on as the next casino destination.[6]

Gambling Offence In India

Online[edit]

Online gambling is in its infancy in India, but Sikkim planned to offer three online gambling licences in 2010. This failed despite India being the most sought out country for online gambling.[7] Sikkim also permits an online lottery, which takes bets from players throughout India. It was expected that other states would follow Sikkim, thereby opening up a major online gambling market throughout India.

Gambling Offence In India Latest

Even though Indian casinos cannot promote or have sites that promote online gambling games such as casino, sports betting and bingo, it is not illegal for non-Indian casino companies (so called offshore companies) to have sites that focus on Indian players. The only requirement from a legal point of view is that the offshore casinos have to offer Indian Rupees as a payment method for Indian players. Although this is not accurate anymore since January 2020.

Unlicensed gambling is happening regardless, with as much as $60 billion worth of action and $48 billion being directed at Indian cricket alone.

Legalisation[edit]

Despite the existing prohibitive legislations, there is extensive illegal gambling throughout the country. The Indian gambling market is estimated to be worth US$60 billion per year, of which about half is illegally bet.[8] According to the Indian National Newspaper, the Chief Executive officer for the International Cricket Council (ICC) said he was in favour of legalising betting in sports. He believes the illegal funds profited are through underground bookies that used the money to fund terrorism and drugs.[9] Many Indian professionals as well as online forums have urged the government to introduce legal but regulated gambling in India to bring the gambling economy out of the grip of mafia and underground dons.[10]

Payment gateways[edit]

Gambling Offence In India 2020

One of the biggest obstacles faced by sports bettors in India is the fact that depositing to foreign bookies is extremely difficult. Typically, the majority of users deposit to online bookies using Moneybookers or Neteller. Some attempts to deposit using a Visa or MasterCard may fail. The same is true of online bank transfers. In order to circumvent these blocks, savvy internet users have started to use e wallet services for depositing. These services, enable users to fund an online betting account in Rupees. This is important because it avoid legal issues that may have arisen out of F.E.M.A Foreign Exchange law.

See also[edit]

Gambling Offence In India 2019

References[edit]

Gambling Offence In India Today

  1. ^'Goa casinos contribute Rs 135cr revenue in 2012-13 - Times of India'.
  2. ^Reddem, Appaji. 'NRI bets on Andhra Pradesh, moots casino on the Krishna'. The Hindu. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  3. ^'The Public Gambling Act, 1867'. www.indiankanoon.org.
  4. ^Sayta, Jay (January 1, 2012). 'LEGALITY OF POKER AND OTHER GAMES OF SKILL: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INDIA'S GAMING LAWS'(PDF). NUJS Law Review. Archived from the original(PDF) on November 2, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  5. ^Patil, Ajit (28 May 2009). 'Casinos in India'. India Bet. Archived from the original on 9 April 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  6. ^'Casinos want to gamble on Visakhapatnam'. Deccan Chronicle. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  7. ^Sanjay, Roy (27 October 2009). 'Indian online gambling market set to open up'. India Bet. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  8. ^Thompson, James (27 October 2009). 'Betfair and William Hill target India'. The Independent. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  9. ^'Sports Betting Favoured by ICC'. CasinoOnline.net.in. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  10. ^Ashok, Donnie. 'Jay Sayta, Founder Glaws.in, on how he became an authority in Gambling Laws'. Superlawyer.in. Superlawyer. Retrieved 2014-12-21.
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