Gambling is a taboo subject in India, with complicated rules and outdated facts. Even though people want to play safe and understand what is legal and not, there is no official law put in place regarding online gambling, crypto usage and what games are based solely on skills or luck.
This is why the UMF started to reconsider some essential aspects to change the laws soon. In this situation, the statement made by the Indian Union Ministry of Finance at the end of 2022 regarding online gambling became a highly discussed topic among players.
India is among the top technologically advanced countries, and because of that, multiple companies want to expand in the online gambling market. More than 600 million people use smartphones in India, so mobile gambling has shown an upward trend in the past two years.
Casinos wanted to make the most out of that and started adapting their pages and content to match IOS and Android operating systems and norms so players could enjoy their time on the platform better.
But how can adults use their phones for entertainment purposes when the laws are outdated and don’t exclude any particular activity or website?
Actual Gambling Laws in India
The only transparent thing about the Indian Gambling Laws is that each state can decide what is allowed or not on its territory. Only three states allow land-based gambling casinos: Goa, Daman and Sikkim. These three states also allow online gambling with licenses, but no jurisdictions have explicit laws about online gambling, especially those that prohibit gambling.
In other jurisdictions, authorities can put you in jail if you own a betting shop, but no governmental acts forbid online gambling. Besides these rules from the Public Gambling Act of 1867 that are not effective nor useful, there are two other acts that could influence the Online Indian Gambling Market.
The Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999
This is a financial agreement that talks about international trade and currency exchange. The things you can use from this act are the following: when you deposit money into an online betting platform, you want to make sure that they accept Rupees. If you gamble in any other currency, it can be considered illegal.
The top online casinos have special software that accommodates players and allows them to play legally. They use geolocation to target and use the country’s currency. Moreover, the bonuses and features they present are automatically transformed into local currencies.
The Information Technology Act of 2000
This act allows the government to block any foreign online platform if it breaks the laws. There are no specific mentions of gambling platforms in this constitutional document, but several websites, including sportsbooks, were blocked from public access in the last year. Some were working without licences or scamming people.
Gambling taxes are the next important aspect of the Indian Gambling Market after the laws and acts.
The latest public declarations of UMF say that there are no hopes of legalising online gambling and betting anytime soon, even though it is needed. Moreover, if you are lucky enough to strike a win on globally licensed betting platforms, you must pay a good amount of state taxes. Currently, gambling winnings fall under the 28% Goods and Services tax.
India has one of the highest taxes on winnings compared to other countries. Multiple countries, like the UK, do not have tax winnings or do it only after a certain sum of money.
Another thing that Indian players must know is the new declarations from the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance spoke recently about the establishment of a new authority: The inter-Ministerial Task Force. The IMTF will have to make an in-depth analysis of all gambling activities, evaluate the Indian Gambling Market and possibly change aspects of it.
Tips on how to gamble safely within the law’s boundaries
There are two important aspects of online gambling that any Indian player must know to make sure he gambles legally.
- First, you must choose a sum of money to gamble with within your budget and be wise with how much you want to spend.
- Second, you must be cautious and select a trustworthy casino.
A simple way to ensure your gambling safety is to verify the license of the top casinos. Most international platforms work legally in India and accommodate players with Rupee payments and special offers.
Make sure you read the casino’s internal regulations and search up specialists’ reviews for different bonuses and casinos you want to play at. Another extra step is to verify the promotional pages and see if those deals fit your agenda.
There are multiple bonuses where you don’t have to add money to your account, so take your time and pick the best one.
Crypto casinos gain more and more users
Crypto users navigated from gambling since the start, but current numbers show that we’ve gone over the initial estimations. All casinos terms that include a popular altcoin have doubled their total searches in just 1 year as seen in a recent report.
As we’ve seen, the searches do not drop just because new legislation is not in place. Crypto users will stick to their ways, regardless of governmental audit. This essentially means that for gamblers and customers, they will keep looking for potentially unregulated sites.
While on the official side, we see a potential loss of millions that could have been deducted from crypto transaction taxes. The issue could only be devised when law and law enforcement is well-defined.
Who loses the most: the government or the people?
The bettors face the true impact of this unregulated market. Players can get scammed easily even if the laws forbid gambling adversities or choose to participate in illegal gambling activities. Some experts say that about half of the money from the Betting Market comes from unlawful betting.
Due to the unregulated market and grey laws, statistics show that gambling addiction is constantly rising among teens and young adults.
Until the government changes the ancient law and each jurisdiction enforces gambling laws, the only thing you can do is to be careful with the platforms you choose and pay your taxes accordingly.
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