India is one of the oldest countries to be involved in gambling. There is evidence regarding the existence of gambling in India's oldest mythological epics, Mahabaratha. The country has come a long way since then.
However, Today, gambling is banned in India based on The Public Gambling Act, 1867 and several local acts passed by the states. According to these laws, there will be punishments ranging from financial fines to years of imprisonment if anyone caught gambling.
Despite all these laws, gambling is still alive in India, thanks to the loopholes in laws. These laws were penned years before the existence of the internet. Thus, there are certain loopholes that work well for online gambling.
The gaming industry has witnessed a paradigm shift with the evolution of the internet. This certainly has contributed to the gambling to grow in the country. While the rise has been constant, the graph has increased in recent times.
Unlike Physical gambling, online gambling works well because of many reasons. The payment method, the number of games available and most importantly, one can actually place limits on the number of money we spend on a daily scale.
According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India's gambling market in 2019 is around Rs 3,00,000 crore which is literally more than the country's defence budget.
To complicate this situation, certain games are classified as "Game of Skill" and "Game of Chance". This has been a debate in the Supreme court for years now.
In ‘games of skill’, the success depends principally upon the superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness of the player. Thus, according to the court, the sport that comes under 'game of skill' is legal while games that come under 'game of chance' is illegal. However, this decision is in the hands of state courts.
While major states in India have allowed Indian betting sites, certain states including Tamil Nadu have banned the game, calling it a 'game of chance'. However, the betting on 'game of skills' is still open as India does not have proper laws for off-shore gambling.
Many foreign companies have identified India as one of the major growing countries when it comes to gambling and the profit has been manifold in recent times. To attract more users, the companies are bringing in a few changes to the original game to involve more number of Indians. If you are from India, you possibly grown up playing the andar bahar online game. This game is super popular, and this is a skill base game.
One of the major changes is including cricket. The game is more of a religion in India and the inclusion of cricket has brought in more players to the site. Apart from cricket, major sites also provide Indian casino games which is yet another hit. While gaming has improved, the companies have found the importance of making the users feel at home and thus, including the Hindi language in the site has worked well for them so far.
Impact of making Gambling Legal in India
Despite all the laws and regulations, Gambling has been one of the major revenue-generating sectors in the country. However, all these revenues are illegal and the Government has no bigger profit in all these.
Considering the fact that the game is still continuing, the Government should look into these laws. The Government can come up with laws in two ways, one is increasing the punishment for gambling. The other is making gambling legal and licensed with more rules that will make the situation a win-win.
The users are going to get themselves involved in the game even though it is illegal and because of the current laws, they can easily escape punishment because of the loopholes. Thus, Government can come up with proper laws and can make a profit out of it. According to a study in India in 2019, The country is missing out on about $1.5 billion annually in lost revenue.
Conclusion:
Based on the survey in 2019, the Indian online gaming industry is estimated to reach around Rs 250.3 billion industry by 2024. Now, it is in the hands of the Government to make a profit out of it by bringing in new rules to make gambling legal.
However, until it happens, one must be very careful while playing the game and they must be playing it responsibly as well. Also, we know that the rules of gambling can be confused but before getting yourself involved in such activities, please make sure to check your state law.