Online gambling is breaking local and national boundaries to reach people at the comfort of their mobile devices. These online gambling websites provide a multitude of games to the users with an enriched casino experience, sans the costs and headaches of attending a real casino. However, when it comes to India, the popularity of online gambling comes with several regulatory traps.

Murky laws in India

The biggest problem with Indian laws for gambling is that they are too old to suit even physical casinos and gambling arenas. This makes online gambling an even more confusing industry to regulate. The country hasn’t done enough to refresh its laws which is costing the gambling operators as well as players.

Apart from federal regulations, each state in India sets its own laws in terms of gambling. The go-to act for all online activities in India in the Information and Technology Act (2000), which debars depraved and sensitive information from being released to the public. However, even this relatively recent act doesn’t touch upon the subject of online gambling.

The prominent online gambling arenas for Indians include Royal Panda, Rizk Casino, 22Bet, LeoVegas, and Betway. The state of Maharashtra bans online gambling and considers it a criminal offense. However, the states of Sikkim and Nagaland have a more proactive approach to the same. Sikkim issued its first online gambling license in 2014 to Future Gaming Solution. After Goa, it is the second state in the country to host land-based casinos.

These states are not following the old and redundant law called the Public Gambling Act of 1867.

Is the Indian online gambling scene safe?

For online gambling operators, Sikkim is the safest place to operate from. It offers a variety of licenses to operators which provides them with a firm legal standing. However, not sufficient for over 1.3 billion people. According to MECN Asia, India is the fastest growing online gambling market and also the largest in the world.

It is, then, very ironic that the gambling laws in the country don’t even include online gambling. However, for those operators looking to enter the Indian market, finding a convenient state like Sikkim and getting a license there should not be considered a herculean task.

The Indian gambling market is ripe, and with a large number of adults with access to the internet and smartphones, it is only going to grow larger.