Cricket Betting – The #1 Guide for Online Betting in India (in 2021)

Online Betting in India

Betting on games of chance or sporting events have been a pasttime favorite for many a generation, and India is no exception to this rule.

If anything, I would say India has this more ingrained in their DNA, tradition and culture than most other regions. Whether it be betting on sports, political outcomes, weather, dice, teen patti or any kind of game that involves chance, you will find gamblers in India who would love to place a bet on it.

Get properly started with online betting in India with OCB!

With the technological advancements increasing exponentially, the betting in India has now moved to become online betting in India. We are getting close to 500 million mobile users in the region, and the betting sites in India are accommodating this behaviour by offering responsive websites and online betting apps to give their users an easier time to interact with their products.

The availability of betting sites in India hasn’t been that great over the years. But in the recent years we have seen more and more betting sites that are not only opening up for Indian players, but specifically tailor their service to Indians with offering deposits in Indian rupees (INR), Hindi translations and other features.

It is hard to find what the best options are out there, but we are here to help you out! We have already done the research and rated the various Indian betting sites so that you don’t have to.

Legal Betting in India

There is a lot of questions and confusion around the legality of online betting in India, and we will try to clear that up here, but first, a warning:

We are not legal experts and you should do your own research before you try online betting.

Here is the quick information on legal betting in India:

• There are no federal laws that prohibits online betting in India
• A few states have made explicit laws against online betting
• There are not any cases on record of Indian players being prosecuted for online betting

So unless you live in a state which explicitly prohibits online gambling, you are free to try out online betting from India.

Legal betting in India is possible in most states

Just be sure that you check with your local laws and regulations before you engage in this and be sure to check out one of our recommended betting sites on this page to make sure you don’t get cheated out of your money.

Gambling Laws in India

Let me start this section off with this –

Laws, gambling or otherwise, are vague. It doesn’t matter what country you’re looking into.

A lot of things are going to ‘depend’ or be considered a ‘grey area.’ Nothing is ever black or white.

And that’s definitely the case for India’s gambling laws.

One reason for this (in India’s case) is that they rely on outdated laws that don’t factor in the advances in technology.

Take the Public Gambling Act of 1867, for example.

This is more than 150 years old. But the country still leans on this law as if it’s relevant.

The PGA doesn’t do much – it merely makes running a gambling house illegal. The penalty is relatively small – ₹100 and/or 1 month prison.

This law also brings up the luck vs skill argument. And while you could say that online betting (and poker and blackjack) are more about skill than luck, the goverment doesn’t seem to see things that way.

So, sports betting is a grey area at best, and illegal at worst.

(Though that hasn’t stopped an estimated $60 billion from flowing through the country – half of which is assumed to be wagered illegally.) To our knowledge, not a single person has been fined or arrested in India for online gambling.

Fortunately, India allows each state to determine their own gambling laws.

It’s possible to gamble (legally) in Goa, Daman and Sikkim. In fact, there are 12 brick and mortar casinos between Goa and Sikkim alone, where you can bet on sports and play casino games.

But, only offline.

Online gambling is possible. But because of the Information Technology Act 2000, any activity the government views as corruptible to its people is prohibited. This comes with fines of up to ₹1,00,000 and/or 5 years in prison.

But, it’s still possible.

Indians are able to place bets with offshore betting sites and casinos. A couple examples include Bet365, 10CRIC and Betway. All 3 are top-notch betting sites, and all 3 accept Indian players.

And since they’re offshore there is little the Indian government can do (outside of getting involved with payment processing – which we have already covered – or censoring what their people can do online, which it sounds like they’re doing or trying to do).

So, that’s the long and short of it.

However, there might be a new hope on the horizon. The new report (July 2018) from the law commission in India states that:

If a complete ban is unenforceable the only viable way to deal with gambling is via effective regulation – (page 115 9.8)

As always, we can expect a lot of back and forth between the politicians before anything happens. The opposition is ready to exploit any hint of betting as much as possible. Minister for Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, latest reply (Aug 2018) seems vague at best.

Experts and players alike think it will take years to turn into law.

So, the short answer:

If you want to try online betting in India, it should be risk free. Just make sure you use a recommended betting site and don’t advertise to everyone you know that you are betting. That is our advice anyway.

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