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Gambling in India: Past, Present and The Future

Gambling has a long history in India and was popular in ancient, medieval, and British colonial times. Currently, gambling laws are decided by individual states, and legal forms include state lotteries, horse racing, rummy, and casinos in Goa and Sikkim. Anecdotally, illegal sports betting such as on cricket matches is very widespread. The gambling industry is growing rapidly and could generate significant tax revenue if regulated, but authorities have concerns about societal impacts.

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110 views2 pages

Gambling in India: Past, Present and The Future

Gambling has a long history in India and was popular in ancient, medieval, and British colonial times. Currently, gambling laws are decided by individual states, and legal forms include state lotteries, horse racing, rummy, and casinos in Goa and Sikkim. Anecdotally, illegal sports betting such as on cricket matches is very widespread. The gambling industry is growing rapidly and could generate significant tax revenue if regulated, but authorities have concerns about societal impacts.

Uploaded by

Anukriti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Gambling in India: Past, Present and The Future

1. Gambling is and has been a popular pastime in modern, colonial and ancient India.
2. Gambling prevailed as a popular pastime in ancient and medieval India as evidenced from its
depiction in the Mahabharata, an epic written in 1500 BCE, and various other Sanskrit and
Tamil texts written in the BCE era. Gambling’s popularity persisted during the medieval period
(8th to 18th century CE) despite much of India being ruled by Islamic dynasties; gambling is
proscribed under Islamic law. During the British rule (from the 17th century until 1947), passion
for gambling among the Indian public persisted. Particularly popular was a form of gambling
called Satta or numbers gambling; examples included betting on opium, gold and cotton prices,
or on the amount of rainfall. It was to restrict and regulate gambling practices in India that the
Imperial Legislative Council enacted The Pubic Gambling Act of India in 1867.
3. The Present: The Public Gambling Act of 1867, remains the only law that regulates gambling
in India. It restricted most forms of gambling and also discriminated games of pure chance
such as Satta (which it made illegal) from games of skill and not just mere chance such as
horse racing (which it made legal). Its aim was to provide for the punishment of public gambling
and the keeping of common gaming houses in certain parts of British-ruled India.
4. The current position across India is that the Centre has devolved exclusive powers to individual
states to deem what types of gambling are legal or illegal. Although there can be no specific
reference to online gambling in an Act passed in 1867, such gambling does come under its the
regulatory remit and further regulation came with the Information Technology Act, 2000, which
makes forms all forms of online gambling illegal.
5. Currently, the only legal forms of gambling in India are state-run lotteries (in some states only),
horse racing, rummy card games and casinos (in two states). Lotteries are legal in 12 states
and 5 Union territories but banned in 17 states. Many Indians also gamble at festival fairs, as
they offer a range of legal and illegal gambling opportunities, collectively referred to as ‘festival
gambling
6. Anecdotally, India has a huge illegal betting market and betting on sports such as cricket is
extremely popular. As it is illegal, figures are always unverifiable. It was claimed recently that
nearly Rs 2500 crore [nearly $375 million] was bet on an India vs. West Indies cricket match
and that Rs 30,000 crore [nearly $4.4 billion] was bet on the 2016 T 20 Cricket World Cup
(Economic Times, 2016).
7. Although accurate figures on the amount of money spent on gambling are lacking, estimates
from 1997 suggest that India’s gambling market was worth approximately $60 billion dollars per
year, of which about half was illegal
8. Gambling in Goa

Goa is only one of two Indian states which permits gambling in casinos. It is estimated that
there are 10 casinos in Goa, of which four are land-based and the other six are offshore or
floating casinos. Legislation in Goa (The Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976).

Apparently the Goan government received Rs. 135 crores [$20 million] as revenue from its
casinos in 2013 (Economic Times, 2013). It is being planned, and may soon become law, to
ban Goans from entering casinos in the state. Those in favour of this proposal argue that such
a move will protect local people from gambling-related harm. Critics say such legislation
condones casino gambling, and that strict implementation will be difficult.

9. The Future:
The gambling industry in India is growing so rapidly that it is expected to reach INR 250 billion
by 2024. It is four times more than it generated in 2019 when the figures reached INR 62
billion. This industry could bring a lot of benefits to the Indian economy, and the authorities
should consider its legislation sooner or later. Although authorities believe that this business
would have a negative impact on society, leaving the entire industry in a shady area won’t
prevent people from gambling. The legislation of gambling would prevent illegal and improvised
casinos and bring significant revenue. Gambling is an ancient activity of humankind, and it
won’t stop entertaining people.

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