Online Betting India

Online Betting means making use of the internet for gambling. There are many gambling establishments
around the world. Online gambling maybe in the form of casinos, pokers, sports betting, bingos,
lotteries, mobile gambling, etc. In most of the countries gambling is legal or illegal or neither it is legal or
illegal. Now a days, the internet has made it very easy to gamble that too with the introduction of
cyroptycurrency. Gambling is a subject of state matter and every state has their own laws in regard to
this.

Gambling too has existed in India since ancient times, but it has gained the momentum after the
introduction and advancement of technology which has made it very easy for the people to bet in any
place all over the World. India too has their own laws in regard to gambling. Entry 34 in under State List
in Schedule Seventh of the Constitution of India specifically gives rights to the States to make and create
their own laws and policies regarding betting and gambling. Therefore, in most of the states of India
gambling is prohibited. The Public Gambling Act, 1867 is a Central Legislation that regulates the system
of offline gambling in India. Since this act was introduced during the pre independence times it is
applicable only to those states which have adopted the act and the Central Government has the power
to amend and enact new laws in regard to this act.

There is are specific laws in India as to Internet Gambling. Neither the Public Gambling Act, 1867 nor
Entry 34 states anything about online gambling. So the position of Online Betting in India is still unknown
and therefore the people continue to gamble online in India. Only Maharashtra had made online betting
illegal under the Bombay Wagers Act. Information Technology Act of 2000 prohibits the publication or
transmission of information that can corrupt people. This includes online gambling and the punishment
for such offence is imprisonment upto 5 years or fine extended upto Rs 100,000. But if an Indian
resident bets on a website hosted outside India in where online betting is legalized it will be difficult to
hold him guilty. There are other laws such as tax laws, anti-money laundering laws, exchange control
regulations, etc. that too affect the gambling industry.

In India only three states have made gambling and betting legalized that is Goa, Sikkim and Daman.
Sikkim is the only state in India to have a law on online gambling that is the Sikkim Online Gaming
(Regulation) Act, 2008 which outlines the rules and regulations for online gaming licensing within the
state.

The position of India as to the betting on Cryptocurrency is also neither legal or illegal in India. One such
form of cryptocurrency is Bitcoins in which many people continue to bet or trade in India. In the Budget
Speech of 2018, the Government stated that it would make use of crypto assets in financing illegitimate.
Under the Coinage Act of 2011 bitcoin does not fall under the term Coin and that is it lacks proper
authority. The Foreign Exchange Management act of 1999 also does not verify the position of bitcoins.
But India has a bitcoin wallet that is ZebPay Wallet in which bitcoins can be converted to rupees in India
or vice versa. This application in India follows the KYC form introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
by which the bank obtains identity and address of its customer. Under the Income Tax of 1961 Bitcoin is
treated as a capital asset. The Reserve Bank of India on February 1, 2017 had stated that it had not given
license or authorization to any company or entity to operate on such virtual currency. The Supreme
Court of India had also issued a notice to make a regulatory framework on virtual currency.