A country of vast and deep rooted culture and a population of over 1.3 billion people, India is seen as a massive market by international online casino industrialists who believe that the country will follow China’s path and become the next big thing.
With a market cap of above $1 Billion during the covid times, India is bringing hundreds of thousands new player every single month, but then the question arises, will the Indian government ever regulate this booming market?
The online gambling industry is anyway one of the most regulated industries in the world, with bodies such as the Malta Gaming Authority and United Kingdom Gambling Commission keeping a strict eye on every single online casino site. The issue in this country is that each state will have to pass a law individually to regulate the market just like the USA and create body to make sure that all the online casino in India are working according to Indian regulations.
In India there are 3 states that allow land based casino which are- Goa, Daman and Sikkim, with all three of them working under the beady eyes of the government and under strict regulations. The reason why the online casino industry is thriving is because the rules are based on the archaic laws, and in this case it is known as the Public Gaming Act of 1867. It is a law so old that it does not mention online casino games such as online andar bahar real cash and does not penalize anyone who plays online. In fact there have been many talks in state governments legalize and regulate it as it would be a massive boost for state governments in the means of taxes.
Why do people want iGaming to be regulated?
All the online casinos that Indians play on are based internationally in countries such as Malta and Isle of Man in the UK, both who are very stringent with player safety and regulations but yet people are calling for India to also regulate these markets.
In India only one state has worked hard that has been Sikkim, in 2010 they launched 3 tenders for companies to create online casinos but unfortunately this failed and the reasons have yet not been revealed. Nonetheless they now have an online lottery where they accept people throughout the country.
Why we believe that bid for online casinos failed in 2010 is because the industry was not as big as it is now, if tenders were to be floated again, they would be snapped up in seconds.
India has massive financial reasons to promote online gambling in India, with huge collections in tax and also funds to help gamblers in need of help, regulating will be a fantastic decision. Moreover with the Prime Ministers aim to promote Make In India, this regulation will create thousands of jobs and shift the online casino sites to India instead of Europe.