Online Card Games to Rule Indian Online Casino Market with 50% Growth Rate

India may not have the huge population of hardcore casino gamers like Las Vegas and Macau, but it is true that card games and other games have been growing in India these days. Online gaming in India is all set to cross Rs. 4380 Cr by the end of FY 2018, as reported by KPMG.  At a CAGR of 22.1%, it is estimated to touch Rs. 11,880 Cr by Financial Year 2023.

Online card games like Rummy, Poker, and Teen Patti are expected to grow 50% to 100% year on year in this segment. Online poker attracts the cash flow in real money online games and Teen Patti and Rummy are the rulers of card games in Indian online casinos like https://www.leovegas.com/en-in/. Rummy and Teen Patti are skill-based games and Poker is a blend of both skills and luck, according to the Supreme Court.

Jay Sayta, a corporate lawyer and founder of Glaws, a multinational company monitors online gaming domains in India, added, “Online poker is illegal in Assam and Odisha. You cannot withdraw or deposit winning amounts in an account based in Gujarat or Telangana. If you withdraw more than Rs. 10,000 out of those states, you will have to pay 30% TDS to withdraw money in a legal way. But playing on online casinos outside India violates FEMA terms and you could face a penalty.”

Online poker space is estimated to be worth around Rs. 700 Cr in India and it is getting even more competitive these days. One of the new launches within the Indian casino market is the arrival of Pokerstars and it is supposed to be one of the biggest online poker platforms. Based on the Isle of Man, Pokerstars has seen over $877.3 million of revenue over the past year. The arrival of global players still doesn’t affect the local platforms. Amin Rozani, CEO and founder of Spartan Poker, said, “We have great knowledge and experience of the local market. The more the arrival of platforms in the market, the better it is.”

Apart from startups in online poker, there are still some companies with a stake in this game. Vice chairman of Dabur, a global FMCG leader, Amit Burman, invested around Rs. 20 Cr and launched its first ever Poker tournament in India.  He says, “I feel Poker is a sport, not a gambling. This is the reason we have introduced a tournament and formed a team for the franchises to compete against each other. This is how PSL was started two years ago.”

In the second season of Poker Sports League, over 11 franchises have participated and it was finished in June. They distributed over Rs. 4.4 Cr as prize money among the winner. Burman said, “The brand ambassador of the event was none other than Vishwanathan Anand who said Poker is a skill-based game, not a chance.  We are going to raise the amount to Rs. 7.25 Cr in the upcoming season. He is planning ahead for the future of sports in the country. A lot of professional players are coming to make poker their dedicated business. We hope parents will also start accepting poker as a career option and it will see tremendous growth in India.”


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