Playing online casinos in India is a little bit of a grey area. This is because the legality of it and how it works out is sometimes a little hard to understand. Because of this not everyone fully understands what they can and can’t do within India. This is why it’s important to have a guide in place to help you know what’s available to you and what isn’t.

What is Completely Legal

The completely legal options within India isn’t a very long list. Basically, players are able to enjoy betting on sports and lotteries. Each state will have their own specific lotteries and this offers players the opportunity to play either on state-wide or country-wide lotteries. Sports betting is a slightly different situation though.

Sports betting was originally illegal within India. The reason for this was the worry about people becoming addicted to gambling on sports. However, with this, there came a whole new problem. The black market started to offer lots of sports betting to players. When this happened it meant that corruption ended up seeping into the world of sports.

Games started to be fixed which meant that the integrity of the sporting world was compromised. In order to combat this issue, the Indian government decided to make the move to legalise sports betting. By making it legal ensured that the more nefarious parts of the black market betting world were unable to have as much influence on sports. It allowed sporting contests to regain their integrity and gave bettors a safe way to place a bet on sporting events. So, while the initial reasoning behind banning sports betting was to avoid criminality within India, making it legal actually removed the criminal element from the sporting world.

What is Slightly Legal

In terms of some legality being in place, there are some states that allow for brick-and-mortar casinos to operate. Sikkim and Goa are the two most common states that offer brick-and-mortar casinos to players. There are more than 10 casinos available in these two regions, so there’s plenty of choices available for players.

However, this has meant that some people are not too clear on where online casinos stand. It does create a grey area that may be confusing to some people. This has led to a strange situation where online casinos are regularly used but people aren’t completely sure of what they can and can’t do.

Online Casinos: Grey Area

Online casinos are not technically legal within India. This is due to the online gambling laws which state that any games that take place have to be based around skill, not a chance. As most online casino games have a large chance element to them, even though some do have skills involved as well, it means that generally online casinos are not legal for players to enjoy.

Despite this, the authorities in India aren’t particularly strict on enforcing these laws. While people who operate offshore sites are targeted by officials, the people who play at the sites aren’t targeted. It means that if you choose to play at an online casino you won’t be punished for doing so. However, this does limit just how many online casinos are available to players within India.

What’s Available?

Generally speaking, there’s pretty much everything that most online casino players in other countries have available to them. Players can enjoy a range of different casino games, sports betting options and crypto casinos. There are lots of different ways to play at online casinos which helps Indian players to enjoy a good range of different sites.

The thing about playing at offshore sites is that if the site isn’t trustworthy it can cause problems for players. This is where looking at online casino reviews can help. By checking out online casino reviews, players have the ability to learn which sites are trustworthy and which ones to avoid. It’s an important part of finding an offshore site to play at and it’s important for Indian players when it comes to staying safe.

In other countries like New Zealand according to onlinecasinosrealmoney.co.nz the regulations are the same. You are not allowed to play local casinos on the internet but offshore is perfectly legal to do so.

Lack of Regulation

Because there’s no regulation, it is vitally important to find the most trustworthy sites out there. If Indian players just select the first site that they come across then they might not be playing at one that can be trusted. This can lead to issues, especially if the site decides to withhold funds or winnings. No regulator means that the site can essentially behave however it wants.

So, make sure to find a trusted site when playing. This will help to limit any issues in this regard. Of course, it also helps to play at a site that has regulations within its own jurisdiction. This will mean that it has to behave in a fair manner to players otherwise it can be reported to its other regulators.