India’s Sports Betting Industry Growing Exponentially

Published: 21/07/2020 | Last Updated: 27/07/2020

Reading Time: 2 Min

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Sports betting is a huge industry in many countries around the globe. In the United States alone, the industry is worth $12.5 billion and it is projected to continue growing within the foreseeable future.

While sports betting is already an established industry in many western countries, some countries especially in Asia are only just being introduced into it. One prime example to this is India. Although gambling is legally accepted in India, the industry of sports betting is relatively new and exists in a rather grey area.

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India’s sports betting industry

In terms of legality, betting and gambling is legally accepted in India. However, the idea of sports betting is still a novel and it is not widely accepted in the country. In fact, many of India’s states consider sports betting completely illegal and impose harsh legal repercussions to offenders.

In some parts of India, bookmakers are completely illegal. Sports betting is also illegal and can send a man into jail if found guilty of engaging in such activities.

However, there is a strangely grey area that many sports fans use in order to circumvent these strict rules. One of the most popular options is to engage in online sports betting.

There are many online bookmakers that operate in India. While it is true that operating such business is illegal, some operators found a workaround this by establishing their main office outside of the country.

This is a popular strategy that is known as offshore gaming. A sports betting company establishes its server and main office outside of India, while its main scope of operation is inside the country. That way, they are technically operating outside of the country.

Another important thing to note is India’s lack of new gambling regulation. The only federal law that governs gambling in the county is The Public Gambling Act of 1867 and its scope only covers actual physical casinos and betting shop.

The advent of the Internet have brought about a lot of new option and platforms for Indians to enjoy gambling. One such option is the operation of offshore gaming companies.

Hopes of legalization

The popularity of online sports betting in India has led many to believe that the country will soon appreciate the potential tax revenue this industry will generate. Several studies about this industry have revealed that Indians are spending billions of dollars in sports betting alone. Some studies suggest that there could be as much as a billion dollars when online betting is accounted for as well.

With this amount of money, any government will be persuaded to legalize it in order to generate tax revenue from it. Considering the current political climate in India, many are agreeable to the proposal of legalizing sports betting in the country.

Despite this massive support from many Indians, many politicians and policy makers are rather skeptical about it. First, legalizing sports betting means that a new amendment to the current law is to be presented.

Lawmakers agree that there is a strong chance that India will legalize sports betting, however it will take a lot of time to do it.